Persona: One World
by Final-Freedom
Summary: An original fic, with the characters from P3 and P4 making cameo appearances... Persona-users now come from all over the world to face new terrors. Will their differences be their own undoing? Or their source of strength? Back to uploading....
1. Chronicle One: Sword of the Moon

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series or the characters related to them. The original characters…well, I created them so they're mine and since the Personas are based on legends and folklores around the world so, I think no one really owns them, right?_

Persona: One World

Chronicle One: Sword of the Moon

_Shirayuki High; After School,_

The light spring breeze swept across the Harajuku skies as the final bell of the first day of school of the first term this rang. Students filed out of their classrooms, alone or with a group of friends chatting loudly.

Shibuya Hiruma, from second year class-C, hung back after everyone had left. He flipped out his cell phone and called home.

"Mom? I'm going straight to cram school from school." He told his mother, who answered the phone. "Don't wait for me, 'kay?"

He hung up straight away and stuffed the phone into his school blazer pocket. He picked up his school bag, flattened his messy black hair and made his way out of school.

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Shibuya was at a convenience store buying some food and drinks when a voice from behind him startled him.

"Yo, Shibuya!" It was his friend from school, Souma Yuu. Shibuya greeted his red-haired friend in return while paying for his purchases. Souma came next to Shibuya put his purchases together with Shibuya's. "You're going to cram school later?"

"Of course, unlike you…" Shibuya said grinning at his long-time friend. "C'mon, if you're not there I'd have to walk home alone!"

"Sorry dude, I've gotta take my girl out for a movie…" Souma replied with his own trademark grin. "Don't tell me the short-cut freaks you out, you sissy!"

"Who're you calling a sissy, huh?!" Shibuya playfully punched his friend. Both of them laughed together.

"That'll be 680 yen…" said the cashier attendant over their laughter. The two friends stopped laughing abruptly and pulled out their cash and got out of the shop, realizing the angry looks from the other customers.

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Cram school seems to drag on forever, so Shibuya was relieved when the class was over. He can't wait to get home, so he hastily bid farewell to his classmates and made his way home.

Going through the Harajuku shopping district is the most conventional way home, but it would take nearly three-quarters an hour by foot for Shibuya if he were to walk all the way home. So, he instead took a detour and walked through the less used older part of the town.

It was a full moon, so it wasn't too dark for Shibuya to see even with the lack of street lights in the area. Shibuya slowed down his pace, enjoying his stroll in the moonlight. Secretly, he wished that he could enjoy this with someone as something about the area is really giving him the creeps.

He then came to the large row of shop houses which he has to walk across to get home. He took a deep breath and opened the front door of the shop house.

"Ojyamashimasu…"he said timidly as he entered. Seeing no one was around, he stepped inside the creepy looking building. The inside of the building looked as if it had been abandoned for a long time and there was also…

"Is this blood?" Shibuya said to himself, examining the stains on the wall. "What the hell is this place…?"

Suddenly, a roar was heard from somewhere in the building, and the building shook violently.

"That's it, I'm outta here!" Shibuya turned and tugged at the door, but it wouldn't budge. "You've gotta be kidding me!" He shouted as the roaring sound became clearer. He looked at the window but it was boarded up. He was left with only one choice…It's crazy, but anything's better than stuck here with the roaring thing…

Shibuya scouted a flight of stairs and quickly made his way up. He was on the second floor when suddenly a large black hand punched in through a window, missing him by inches. "What in the world is THAT?!" Shibuya shouted out, getting down on the floor. The hand was enormous and the fist almost as large as he is.

Shibuya ran, more frantically now. He slipped and slid on the blood-stained floor, and the gigantic hand attacking more frequently now. Somehow, maybe by sheer luck, Shibuya reached the rooftop.

"This is impossible…" Shibuya gasped. The entire row of shop houses was covered with creatures of darkness, each wearing a mask of some sort. Shibuya fell to his knees, speechless as one of the masked creature; the largest one that is, climbed onto the rooftop and is now face to face with Shibuya.

Shibuya was speechless. The creature opened its mouth, revealing rows after rows of sharp teeth.

"_I am thou…"_ Shibuya heard a faint voice, but it was drowned in the creature's roar.

"_And thou art I…"_ Shibuya heard the voice again.

A soft blue light appeared from Shibuya's blazer pocket. He fished into it and pulled out a card with a moon caricature on its face.

"Per…so…na…" Shibuya threw the card up into the air where it shone bright with a blue light. From the light, emerged a samurai in blue garbs and a mask. On its forehead and its back, there was a crescent shaped crest and it was carrying a katana that has a cross guard in the shape of a moon.

The samurai hovered behind Shibuya, as the creature recoiled in the light.

Suddenly, the gigantic hand reappeared and struck at Shibuya from behind. In one swift motion, the samurai drew his blade and slashed the hand to halves. At that moment, the masked creature rushed forward, its mouth wide.

"Tsukuyomi!" Shibuya shouted, and the samurai turned around and let out a shockwave slash at the masked beast. It managed to dodge the slash, but not completely causing the shockwave to sever the beast from its brethrens.

Shibuya jumped out of the way of the flailing monster, which crashed into the roof. Taking advantage on the downed monster, Shibuya willed Tsukuyomi to deliver the final blow. The blue samurai rushed forward, its katana shining a brilliant blue. In one strike, it brought down its sword upon the creature. The attack created a large pillar of blue light, which engulfed all the masked creatures infesting the shop houses, destroying them.

Seeing the conditions had subsided, Shibuya gasped in relief, and the samurai disappeared in the blue light, same as the one it materialized in.

Fatigue suddenly washed over Shibuya, and he fell onto his knees.

"I…I'm still alive?" he said in disbelief. He touched his own cheeks, feeling his own warmth to check whether he was awake or just dreaming. "That was…Persona?"

A small beeping startled the boy, who quickly realized that it was his phone. He took it out of the pocket of his school blazer and to his surprise; the background had changed to look like the moon design on the card he pulled out when he summoned his Persona.

There was also a new message in his mailbox which read;

_Dear Shibuya Hiruma,_

_It seems that you had awakened to your power, the Persona Tsukuyomi the Moon Deity. Your Persona is your façade in facing life's hardships and challenges, and I must say that you have many coming your way over the course of your life. Your Persona is your other self and is shaped by your actions, in which how it grows is entirely a consequence of your future actions. I hope that you will remember this when making future choices. Also, I would like to congratulate you on surviving your first venture into the Nightmare Zone. More mysteries and adventures shall await you in this realm of darkness. I wish you the best of luck in your journey and may the truth shows itself beyond this nightmare._

_From, PHILEMON_

Though not understanding nearly half of the contents of the message, one thing was clear to Shibuya. The moment he awakened his Persona, his life had changed. This world, the Nightmare Zone, will be a part of his life that he could not run away from. This would be his journey, and he is not about to run away from it.

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_This chapter shows the awakening of the Pesona of the first main character of my story, Shibuya Hiruma. The plot,setting and main characters in this story is entirely made up. Some characters from Persona 3 and 4 might make an appearance in later chapters, I'm still considering whether I should put them in...  
_

_That's the end of the first chapter of my fic. Hope you would all give some comments, suggestions and even some criticisms about this series, 'kay?_


	2. Chronicle Two: The Loveless Lovers

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series or the characters related to them. The original characters…well, I created them so they're mine and since the Personas are based on legends and folklores around the world, no one really owns them, right?_

Persona: One World

Chronicle Two: The Loveless Lovers

_St. John's Institution; Newspaper Club Room,_

The school year was coming to an end, and the newspaper club was at wits' end. They had not had enough money to pay for their annual club fees, and they had only published five issues over the year. Their only choice, publish as many issues as they can in the course of one month. Now they have another problem, they are quickly running out of articles to fill their papers.

"This might be our end, people…" said Colin Luther, the third-year editor and president of the club during the annual general meeting. "If only we can publish two… just two more issue… this club could survive…"

"Hold it, President!" said one voice, a hand in the back row where the first years are. It was a girl with long wavy blonde hair stood up, her light blue eyes lighting up with determination. "There is one article we could use, the one that we could sell for two issues worth!"

"What's your name, freshman?"

"Mellissa Belle," said the girl, smiling. "I think we should cover the disappearance cases around Newcastle." Many people gasped, but some nodded in agreement.

"You might be right, but this is a very dangerous case…" said the President, but he was nodding all the while. Mellissa looked at him intensely, determination burning in her eyes. "Then I'm putting you in charge of the article, Miss Belle."

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Mellissa started working on her article that weekend. She walked around Newcastle City with her camera and notebook, asking everyone she can find about the disappearance case.

Even after 3 hours on the streets, she had found nothing useful. People refuse to talk about the incident at all, some even chasing her away while she was taking pictures of the site of disappearances.

"Darn it," she said, taking a break in a fast-food restaurant. "What's up with the people nowadays? I can't write an article like this!"

Clearly irritated, she wolfed down her burger and quickly slurped her Coke before rushing out for a second round on the case.

She was enthusiastic the whole 2 hours on the job, but in the end came up with nothing. Finally, she decided to head back, empty-handed.

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"Any luck on the case, Mel?" one of Mellissa's classmates got a jump on her during lunch break. "Oh, Matt." She said, slightly surprised. "Nah, nothing much yet. Nothing to get the article started. If only I had some kind of clue…"

"Man, Mel. I think you should really loosen up…" said Matt. He looked at Mellissa, who was focusing on her laptop where she was trying to draft the article. "You know… maybe hang out with me this weekend?"

"Sorry," she said apologetically. "I've gotta go and round up some more info on this case…"

"Is the article all you ever think about?" said Matt; his voice was traced with suppressed anger.

"It's very important." Answered Mellissa, her eyes still not meeting his.

"Well, sorry to disturb you on you job then." Matt turned around and left the cafeteria without saying another word.

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It was Sunday midnight, and it was freezing. Mellissa put her hands in her jacket to warm them.

"Hmmm, this must be it…" mumbled Mellissa to herself. She checked the address on her phone again. Yep, it was the address to the observation tower near their school. The tower looked way creepy at night, but she had to do it…

Since a few days ago, Mellissa had received a series of messages, in which the sender claimed that he had information on the culprit of the disappearance cases in Newcastle. Then last night, she received a message telling her to meet up with him at the observation tower at midnight.

"Curiosity killed the cat, but what the heck…" she said to herself. She took a deep breath and opened the large oak door to the tower. Waiting inside for her was…

"Matt?"

"So, you came…" he stood on the top of the tower, waiting for her.

"It was you who send the messages?!" said Mellissa, irritated. "Ergh! You think I have time for this kind of joke?!"

"C'mon, this is no joke, Mel!" he said, trying to explain, but Mellissa had had enough. "Mel, c'mon! I… I've really liked you! Honestly!"

Mellissa paused for a second, but then continued towards the door. However, the door wouldn't budge.

"Matt, I've had enough of this!" she said turning towards Matt. While turning, she realized that something about the observation tower had changed. It seemed… darker. "Matt, come on! No more jokes!"

"It's wasn't me!" said Matt, seriously panicking. "I'm not doing all this!"

Their panic was cut short when there was a loud growling sound from the lower part of the tower, which was followed by loud clanking footsteps going up the stairs to the top of the observation tower.

"Matt! Matt!! What is that?!!" shouted Mellissa. She ran and hid behind Matt, who was trembling with fear. Suddenly, the door opened. A knight in blood-stained armor walked in, carrying a large mace.

"Mel! Listen to me!" said Matt seriously, holding her shoulders. There was no trace of joy or laughter in his voice, so Mellissa nodded and looked straight at him. "I… I'm going to distract that monster! You run for the exit, okay?!"

Mellissa could just nod. Matt nodded back at her and squeezed her shoulder.

"Matt, wait!" it was too late, Matt had ran towards the knight monster and rammed into the blood-stained armor. The momentum threw the knight off balance, but Matt was also thrown back by the impact. The monstrous knight got back its bearings faster than Matt and took the time to swing its flail at him.

The scene was too unbearable for Mellissa. She was petrified as Matt lay on the floor, blood gushing out of his crushed gut. "Mel…"

"Matt!!"

He tried to say something, but his breath was cut short as life had left him. "MATT!!"

Tears are pouring uncontrollably from Mellissa's eyes. She stood up, facing the monster which had taken Matt's life.

"_I art thou…"_

The monster rushed at the stoic Mellissa, who had stopped crying.

"_And thou art I…"_

"PERSONA!!" Mellissa shouted at the top of her lungs. A card, with the face of a pair of lovers under a heart branched tree appeared in a flash of white light. The card shattered and from it emerged a maiden wearing a flowing white gown, with a white heart shaped mask covering her face. She held an orb between her palm.

"Get'im! Gefjun!!" the female Persona shot forth the orb upon command. The bloody knight tried to parry with its flail, but the Persona was faster and shot a bolt of lightning under his guard.

The flash of lightning landed hard on the knight's armor, but did no harm to the knight at all.

Mellissa bit on her lips in frustration. This time the knight struck up the offensive, forcing Gefjun to continually conjure a barrier to bear the brunt of the brutal attack.

Once, the knight's flail missed Gefjun, whom side-stepped away from the arc of the swing. The Persona slammed her barrier against the knight's face guard, stunning it for a second.

The one second was exploited by the Gefjun, who charged up a large amount of electricity before driving the focused energy forward. The single bolt of lightning lanced through the knight's guard and into the metal armor. The metal armor fulgurated and exploded in a large ball of fire.

Seeing the beast was dead, Mellissa lowered her guard. The Persona Gefjun disappeared as well. Just as she was about to relax, there was a silent ringing sound.

It took her a second to realize that it was her phone ringing, so she fumbled as she picked it up. There was a new message in her mailbox, and the background had changed into the design on the Lovers Arcana tarot card Gefjun appeared from. The message read;

_Dear Mellissa Belle,_

_You had done well in defeating your first Shadow, the dwellers of the Nightmare Zone. You had also awakened your Persona, Gefjun the Pure. Congratulations and good luck in your future ventures into the Nightmare Zone…_

_From; PHILEMON_

"Shadow? That monster was called a Shadow? Man, I don't understand a word in this…" Mellissa held her head before suddenly remembering something.

"Matt!!" she looked around, but Matt's body was nowhere to be found. "MATT!!!"

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_The second Persona-user of the group had awakened. Hope you guys enjoyed the story so far. Stay tuned for the next installment of Persona: One World!_

_Please review and give your comments, even flames are welcome. _

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	3. Chronicle Three: Fire And Water

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series or the characters related to them. The original characters…well, I created them so they're mine and since the Personas are based on legends and folklores around the world, no one really owns them, right?_

Persona: One World

Chronicle Three: Fire and Water

_Xin Pin National University; Engineering Faculty;_

Time seems to go slowly during the boring lectures. Everyone was paying their maximum attention to the lecturer, who was droning on and on about natural frequencies and heat transfer limit and other technical engineering stuff…

Among those busy scribbling down notes and copying formulas is Wang Soi Feng, a young freshman at the university. Hailing from Guangzhou, he has naturally fair skin, and sleek black hair. His glasses were firmly pressed against his face, and he was taking notes with more enthusiasm than most of the class put together.

After the class, he hung out with his dorm mates, Alvin Wong and Lee Wee Kiat. They, as people call them, are typical geeks. But Wang have a deep secret that nobody knew…

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That night, Wang was dressed in his usual tracks and sweatpants. He scouted the area to make sure that nobody else was around before started jogging.

"Alright, 10 rounds around the park… 20 push-ups… a go at the horizontal bar…" he mumbled to himself while checking his PDA as he jog.

It had been 19 years. Ever since Wang Soi Feng was born into the Wang family, he had always been known as the 'boy genius' for his outstanding academics achievements. However, Soi Feng is a boy just like any other and upon reaching adulthood, he began showing interest towards teens of the opposite gender.

Soi Feng is quite tall for his age, but is too thin and lanky for any girls' preference. So, upon entrance to the university, he found himself a mission… to get the perfect body.

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"Man, how long did you study last night?" asked Alvin to an exhausted Wang, who was too tired to even answer.

"Heh, if this is how you study it's not a wonder you're the best in our class!" Xin chimed in.

"You shouldn't burn yourself out too much though, you might get sick!" another voice joined in the conversation. Both Alan and Xin looked up to see a girl from their class taking a seat behind Wang.

"Ai Si Ying?" asked both Alan and Xin together. They couldn't tear their eyes off her. She is the most beautiful, not to mention most sought-after, girl in the class, and she is sitting together with this bunch of geeks, out of all people!

She has one of the fairest skins in the whole faculty, even by Chinese standards. Her long silky black hair gives you that kind of glow when it catches the sun. And also not to mention her perfectly curved body that would make any man drool.

"You don't look well… are you feeling okay, Wang?" she asked Wang who was sitting in front of her. He must have been very unwell to be unable to answer a simple yes or no question like that. "Well, why don't you take a nap…? I'll borrow you my notes later."

Wang didn't even answer her question; but instead fell straight to sleep.

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Thanks to the nap during class earlier, Wang was recharged to continue his night-time work-out. That night, he's again in his tracks and sneaked out of his dorm and into the campus park.

Wang exercised in the cool night's breeze alone. He chose to work-out at night just because of the peace it offered. Not that he was afraid what people would think, seeing a tech-geek like him working out like he was preparing for the Olympics… He's not afraid of that… No way…

"So this is what you've been up to, Soi Feng…" a silky voice from out of nowhere caused Wang to gave an involuntary jump.

"A…Ai…?" he stuttered. He wasn't expecting to see anyone at this time of night… Not that he expected to see anyone at all… But to see Ai Si Ying appearing out of the dark at night is particularly scary…

"Mind if I join your midnight jog?" she asked. She was wearing a loose blue sports jacket, and matching long tracks. She even had her hair tied up in a ponytail.

Wang gulped. After finally regaining his composure, he answered her. "S…Sure…"

She gave him one of her enchanting smiles, then jogged on pace with him. Secretly, Wang pinched himself.

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After an hour of working out, both Wang and Ai had had enough. Both of them took a seat under a tree near the engineering faculty building, which was creepily empty at night.

"Hey, Wang…" asked Ai suddenly, tugging on Wang's arm. She pointed towards the faculty building; red light was pouring out of the windows. It was too bright for any kind of lighting system usually used in the faculty building, and the color… was blood-red "What in the world?"

The pair walked together towards the faculty building, cautiously looking around for suspicious looking characters.

"Err…Wang…" said Ai, her voice wavering with fear. "M…Maybe its just some kids having a party or something…" Wang however didn't falter in his steps. He wants to know what's going on in there; it was like whatever that's in there is calling out to him…

"Waaannnagggg!!!" whined Ai, irritated that the boy had ignored her for so long.

"If you don't want to go in, I'll go by myself." He said firmly when they reached the front door of the faculty building. "You should go back to your room…"

"…And walk alone in the dead of night? No way!" she protested, holding his arm tighter.

"Your wish then…" Wang sighed. There's no way she can win against this girl. "But stay close to me, okay?"

The girl nodded and Wang now assured, opened the door to the engineering faculty building.

Then, the loudest, most piercing scream that they ever heard echoed through the building. Both Wang and Ai fell to the floor, clutching their ears.

"Wha-What was that scream?!!" Wang shouted over the scream. Certainly, the scream wasn't human. It was a toneless scream, but emitted the pain of the screamer clearly enough.

"L-Lets get out of here, Wang!" Ai shouted back. Wang nodded, but found out that the door was locked tight. He tried again, but the door wouldn't budge.

"What are you doing, Wang?! Open the door!" Ai shouted again. She pushed Wang aside, and tried at the door. "It won't budge!"

Suddenly, the screaming stopped as abruptly as it had started. Now, it is replaced by quite a gravely silence. Slowly, a scraping sound was heard from down the hall, growing more distinct with every passing second.

"I don't like this one bit, Wang…" Ai whispered, but Wang was as every bit as petrified as she was.

The scraping sound grew louder, and it seems to be coming from every corridor leading to the main hall. Soon, the source of the sound was in view. A large group of pitch black monsters was advancing from the corridors. Each of the monsters wears a distinct mask of their own, and is shaped differently for each variant of mask.

Wang was rendered speechless. _Darn it!_ He shouted mentally. _Out of the times, why does my dumb brain pick now to blank out?!_

Ai was literally dumbstruck as well. She looked at Wang and saw his face was as white as a ghost._ Is… is this how I will end? All _the_ while depending on others? _She quickly picked up the fire extinguisher next to the door, and threw it at one of the advancing monsters.

"Ai?" Wang looked at her in awe. However, the fire extinguisher didn't have much effect on the monster, as it simply raised an arm to deflect the heavy projectile. It did however snapped Wang out of his trance, who stood in front of Ai.

"_I am thou…"_

He was scared as hell, but didn't move an inch as the monsters closed in on him. He'll fight; he'll do anything as long as he could protect those he cares for.

"I'll fight too…" said Ai, stepping up next to Wang. She held his hand, finding the warmth of his hands. Wang nodded, and they faced the dark creatures together.

"_And thou art I..."_

Simultaneously, a burst of red and deep blue light emerged from Wang and Ai's jacket pocket respectively. Both drew a card from it, Wang's glowed red with a motif of a chariot-riding prince, while Ai's deep-blue with a woman and a lion depicted on it.

"PERSONA!!"

From Wang's red glow, a male warrior emerged dressed in burning red armor. It carried an iron ball-and-chain where the iron ball was burning brightly with a crimson flame. It wore a helm with a flaming crest upon it.

On the other side, a woman wearing traditional Korean Han Bok emerged from the blue light. She had black hair, which was tied back in a traditional style. In her hands was two Gaems (Korean swords), which were made of water.

Ai looked up to her Persona, and was quickly reminded of her mother who was of Korean descent. "You're still looking after me… Mother…"

"Here they come!" Wang shouted, waking Ai from her reminisce. Both of them took their fighters pose, ready for any attacks.

The creatures seemed agitated by the sudden appearance of the two Personas. They rushed them instantly, coming together at them as a solid mass of darkness.

Wang's Persona stepped in front of him and Ai, and threw the burning iron ball at the mass of monsters. The attack tore a hole in the centre of the monsters, but more of them rushed forward to fill the gaps left by their fallen comrades.

Ai's Persona dissolved her swords into their liquid forms and erected a water barrier; which collided dramatically with the wall of dark matter. The wall formed by the monsters kept pushing forward, but the water-made wall held fast.

"Wang!!"

"Got it!" Wang focused all of his thoughts upon his Persona, which responded by gathering a large mass of flames in his iron ball before throwing it towards the wall of Shadows. Ai's water wall parted long enough to let the ball of fire soar through, and reformed quick enough to protect the two Persona-users from the inferno that ensued from Wang's attack.

The flame lasted for at least a minute, making sure that every monster caught in that blaze was burnt to a crisp.

"Is it over?" gasped Ai through heavy breaths. Her Persona disappeared in the same blue light, just as Wang's disappeared in his red light.

"I think so…" Wang plopped onto the faculty building's floor. He was jolted back to his feet by sudden vibrating sensations in his tracks pocket.

"My phone?" Ai had taken out her phone and noticed that the wallpaper had changed to the design on the card that appeared when she summoned her Persona. From what she could see on Wang's phone, the same thing happened to his phone as well. There was also a message.

_De_ar _Ai Si Ying,_

_I see you have awakened to your latent powers, the Persona Areong Jong, the Bringer of Rain. This power is a representation of your true self, the masquerade that you wear in facing life's hardships. I must also congratulate you on your victory against the Shadows and your first venture into the Nightmare Zone where as you can see, is what a nightmare looks like. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, and everything that it may bring…_

_From, PHILEMON_

Wang read Ai's message together with her before noticing that he had received a similar one, which read:

_Dear Wang Soi Feng,_

_Firstly, I should congratulate you for surviving your first Nightmare Zone adventure. You have successfully awakened to your power, the Persona Sui Ren, the Father of Flames. The awakening of this power is a calling for you to take up arms and muster your strength. Your journey had begun…_

_From, PHILEMON_

"I wonder why yours is longer than mine…" Wang wondered loudly. "Is this Philemon-dude a sexist or something?"

"That's not important for now…"Ai sighed. She was thinking of her Persona, the Shadows and the Night mare Zone. She wonders, though, when she had stepped into this world, is there a choice to turn back now?

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_Thanks to all of you who had reviewed the last two chapters:_

_jhon doe – thanks for pointing out the mistake that I made in previous chapters! Fixed it thanks to you, man!  
_

_Metalsnakezero – thanks for being the first to review my story!_

_This time I've put the awakening of two Persona-users simultaneously, which makes four users revealed! Please review and give me your suggestions and comments. Please do tune in next time for more Persona action!_

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	4. Chronicle Four: Hanging By a Thread

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series and their characters, but I do own this story. All the characters and events in this story are purely fictional. Any coincidental likeness with real people or events is purely unintentional._

Persona: One World

Chronicle Four: Hanging By a Thread

_Harlem, New York;_

Terrence "Trance" Barker cursed his life. This is his third trip to the auto shop this week itself, and his tenth time being late for work this month.

He knew he's black. He knew he lives in the slums. He knew the gangs ruled there. He knew… he had no choice. He shouldn't be caught up in a gang; his late father had always told him back in the days. But his intimidating physique and racial descent made him target for many gangs, some which wanted him to join them and some who dedicated their lives to making his life miserable.

Just this morning, he found his car all banged up and had all sorts of vulgarities spray-painted on the body. Fixing the dents and repainting would cost him a fortune, but what other choices do he have?

Work was no better than his life back home. As a clerk in a local bank, he faced an endless stream of angry people who came to him asking for loans and stuff like that. He hoped that they would all go away, but there was nothing he could do about it.

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"Yo Trance, you still with us buddy?" asked one of his co-workers during lunch break. It seems that he had been thinking too much about his misery that he was in such a daze without even knowing it.

"Huh… yeah, man. I'm still here…" he said apologetically.

"Man, you live up to your name man! Always falling into a trance like that!" laughed Roger, one of Trance's friends who lived just around the corner from his apartment building.

"Trance's short for Terrence, you blockhead!" he replied angrily, but only met by laughter from the rest of the co-workers.

"Dude, you know our team's playing tonight right? Our team against the Chicago Bears?" Roger asked enthusiastically. "You think I can crash by your house tonight to watch the game?"

"No problem, man." Trance answered automatically. He thought for a while, and then added. "But can you get us the pizza? I've gotta swing by my ma's for a bit. And it's pepperoni with the anchovies, okay?"

"Alright. See you there!"

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"Ma, you in here?" Trance asked as he knocked on the door to his mother's apartment in downtown New York. It was not that far away from his house, but Trance insisted that he get his own place just to keep his mother out of the troubles he kept getting into with the gangs.

"Terrence? Why come on in!" said his mother when she opened the door. She was already quite old, but is still strong to take care of daily chores all by herself. "How nice of you to visit you old lady once in a while!"

The inside of Trance's mother's house was nothing like he had ever seen in any house he had been, or ever going to be, to. There were not many decorations, but the shelves are lined with ancient Nigerian tribal artifacts; including ancient earthen masks and potteries.

"It's been quite a while, ma…" he said, as his mother worked on some tea in the kitchen. He moved out of here when he was 17. "I can't believe that it had been 3 years."

"Yeah, you're all grown up now Terrence!" shouted Trance's mother from the kitchen, "What you SHOULD do now is find a good girl and just settle down with her!"

"Sorry, ma. Maybe not this year!" he answered, jokingly. M_aybe not even in the next 5 years…_

"How're you lately, ma? Any strange things came up?" he asked.

"Other than the electric bills that shot up for no apparent reasons, I don't think anything weird happened lately…" said his mother, putting a cup of tea in front of him. Quietly, Trance sighed with relief. He was worried that the problems he's been having with the gang might pose some troubles to his mother.

"Oh, enough about your old lady!" said Trance's mother. She took a sip from her cup of tea before starting to talk excitedly. "Talking about young ladies, I knew this one girl from my friend…"

Trance grinned as his mother continued to rant about some girl she want to hook him up with. All that didn't matter to him, as long as his mother's alright…

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Trance got back to his apartment to find Roger already waiting for him there, arms loaded with pizza boxes and soft drinks. "Yo, hurry up man! I wouldn't want to miss the start of the game!"

"Hang on…" Trance said, slowly opening the door to his house. Roger busted in as soon as the door was open, taking his station in front of the TV. "Wow… slow down man, the TV's not going anywhere!"

"You better hurry up! The game's already starting!"

Trance changed his clothes and sat next to his friend. Roger was one of the few white guys who dared to become his friend, and that was because he knew Trance since they were in Primary School… The other whites however…

"Touchdown!" Roger shouted suddenly, offering a hearty high-five waking Trance from his day-dream. He replied a gesture with a sincere smile on his face.

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"You see that?" said Roger excitedly at the front door. "Told'ja we'll steamroll 'em!" Roger laughed loudly.

"Guess we really trashed 'em this time!" Trance retorted, stifling a yawn.

"Well, I guess I'll see ya at work tomorrow!" Roger said, waving good-bye while walking away.

Trance had just closed the door and was going up the stairs to his apartment when his cell phone rang.

"Dude, hear this! GET-OUT-OF-THERE-NOW!" Roger shouted in whispers. He sounded very serious, the alarm in his voice genuine. "There's these shady guys, white, askin' me whether I knew where your house was… They've got guns man!"

Trance stiffened, he was shocked at such a sudden revelation. "Dude, get out of there! I'm tellin' ya to save your ass man!" urged Roger again.

After a hurried thanks to Roger, Trance hung up. He spotted the back door of the apartment building and ran towards it. The doorbell rang as soon as he closed the back door.

Trance ran to the edge of the town as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran all the way to a large abandoned warehouse that was his secret hideout for years.

_Man, I never realized that this place was this creepy at night… _Trance thought to himself. For unknown reasons, his hand wrapped around the .45 Colt revolver that he always carried around. _Damn, what is this feeling? Is something here?_

Almost as if an answer to his question, a loud heavy sound of footfall was heard from the back end of the warehouse. Trance jolted around, aiming his gun into the formless darkness.

"Who's there?!" he shouted. He was ready to pull the trigger anytime. "Come out and show yourself, punk! Or I swear I'm gonna shoot ya!"

Trance squinted into the darkness, trying to find the cause of the sound._ Just a guy, please let it be just a guy… let him come out with his hands up…_

The sound was heard again, this time the source partially visible. It was huge, at least 12 feet tall… and it has the body of a human and the head of a bull. The bull head was wearing a mask, and the body was purely black… blacker than the night.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" shouted Trance when he'd seen the creature. He shot with his gun, but the bullets seem to have no effect on the monster. He shot again and again until he is finally out of ammo. He tried to open the door, but it was locked shut.

The beast is now upon him, close enough to crush him with its gigantic hands. Mad with panic, Trance ran. He slipped behind the monster and ran to the other end of the warehouse.

The beast roared, it got on all fours and chased after Trance. Running for his life, Trance ran and jumped over fallen debris and crates while the pursuing beast simply crushed them to the ground.

_Mother… It seems that this is it… _Trance stopped running. He knew he couldn't outrun the beast, so he was going to make this easier for the beast and for himself. _I'm really sorry mother._

"_I am thou…"_

The monster wound up his punch.

"_And thou art I…"_

"Per…so…na" The monster let his fist fly, just as a bright yellow light emerged from in front of Trance. He reached out his hand into the light, and drew a card from within it. The card shows a man hanging by his ankles, the perfect metaphor for the situation Trance's in now.

From light, long fine threads of silk emerged binding the monsters hand before it could do any harm to Trance. When the yellow light subsided, the form of a gigantic spider was revealed. The spider was easily as big as the minotaur-like monster, having an upright humanoid body from its thorax and above. Its head is still spider like, with poisonous fangs and a large number of eyes.

The spider tackled the minotaur to the ground, and pinned it down with its eight legs. The minotaur was not giving up without a fight, and pushed the spider's body off it with all its might.

The spider-Persona was thrown off the minotaur, kicking up a large amount of dust. The minotaur stood victorious over the spider, until a large gust of wind pushed more dust in an upwards vortex. The force of the wind was powerful enough to lift the minotaur off its feet.

Taking the advantage created by it s wind attack, the spider wound more thread around the minotaur, rendering it immobilized. In one final attack, the Persona drove its sharp fangs into the minotaur's neck, pumping gallons of venom into it.

The minotaur struggled with death for a while before succumbing to the poison and disappearing into the darkness.

"I guess that's it then…" Trance said, looking at the disappearing form of the giant beast. He looked at the giant spider, which disappeared in the yellow light it appeared from. "Wow, I would've never known I'va had that in me..."

A sudden vibration from his jeans pockets caught Trance off guard. His hand quickly reached for his gun, before realizing the empty gun is now useless. He reached for his phone instead, and realized that the wallpaper had changed; it now showed the design on the card he drew earlier. There was also a message:

_Dear Terrence 'Trance' Barker,_

_I am impressed by your victory over the monstrous Shadow you've just faced. The residents of the Nightmare Zone have something new to fear, and that is your Persona, Anansi the Trickster. I will be looking forward to great exploits from you in the Nightmare Zone._

_Peace out, PHILEMON._

"Peace out?" Trance sighed, wondering. "Who the hell is this guy, and what is he playing at? Well at least he's ain't racist or anything…" he thought for a while. "Hey, maybe this Philemon guy is black as well?"

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_The fifth Persona-user, done! I'm really sorry if anything mentioned in this chapter offended anyone, especially the stuff about skin color and race… it was all for the fun of the story! Sorry 'kay?!_

_So I really hope you all enjoyed the story so far… I already have a set storyboard, but I hope that you all can give me suggestions or even your own character that I can use for my story! _


	5. Chronicle Five: PersonaUsers

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own Persona series or any characters created by the original creators of the game. I do own this story line and any character I created in this story… Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the story!_

Persona: One World

Chronicle Five: Persona-Users

_Hiruma Residence, Harajuku Prefecture,_

It has been three days since Shibuya Hiruma awakened his Persona ability. Since that day, the incidence had always been on his mind. Questions swirled around in his mind, each not finding an answer that would satisfy him.

Aside from the fact that his phone's wallpaper is stuck on the Moon Arcana symbol, there had been no Nightmare Zone activity since that fateful night.

"Tsukuyomi…" If anything had changed since that day, it was Shibuya finally going to the library. He had been reading books on Japanese Shinto Mythology and reading up on stories of the Moon Deity Tsukuyomi.

"Arghhh! This is too much for my poor brain to cope with!" he shouted, and quickly threw the borrowed books aside before opening his third packet of potato chips before lunch.

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_St. John's Institution Library;_

"Gefjun… ancient Norse goddess of chaste…" Mellissa Belle mumbled to herself while perusing a webpage in her school library."Does this have something to do with me being single all this while?" she sighed loudly.

"Working hard for the disappearance cases article, Miss Belle?" Colin Luther, the School Newspaper Club Editor, spoke to her suddenly, making her jump in her seat.

"Umm…yeah… sort of…"she mumbled, quickly closing the pages she was browsing earlier. Maybe she shouldn't have done that, as the editor is now looking at her suspiciously.

"Well… work hard… we're counting on you." He said, before turning away, leaving Mellissa alone once more.

Sighing, Mellissa took another look at her phone, now displaying the Lovers Arcana as the wallpaper. "And this Philemon guy…" she reread the message again. "There's nothing about him anywhere…"

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_Beaux-Evangelis Girl's Academy;_

It was every parent's dream to have their children enrolled in the Beaux-Evangelis Girl's Academy located a few kilometers south of the France capital, Paris. There the girls are properly trained to be well-behaved, respectful, humble and many more 'angelic' qualities.

One of those 'angelic' girls was Lyla Jean Guelle. She is one of those teacher's pets, lovable by all. She is quite short for her age, but her soft kind features, combined with her long silky brown hair which framed her naturally fair complexion was enough to draw attention of fans from all over.

She is also very soft spoken, often seen with a smile on her face. She's kind, helpful, almost every aspect that makes her a model student. Her academics is also top class, she is the one to take top of the class in almost every exam.

However, she has but one flaw. She's a little too helpful, up to the point of gullibility.

It was Sunday, so there was no school. Lyla sat idly near the edge of the school field, watching the lacrosse team practicing for their upcoming match.

"Hey Ly, why the long face?" asked one of her friends, Maia. She was accompanied by another one of her friend Rita, who was looking equally as worried as Maia.

"Oh, its nothing." Lyla answered trying to hide her cell phone from her friends, but it was a futile attempt.

"It's 'them' again, right?" asked Maia sadly. In answer, Lyla nodded silently. "I think your father expects too much of you, Ly. I know your sisters are all…."

"It has nothing to do with my sisters!" Lyla suddenly raised her voice, before it fell into a whisper again. "Sorry… I don't mean to…"

Rita, who is the tallest among the trio, hooked an arm around Lyla's neck, pulling her into a headlock. "This'll teach you to be so moody on such a beautiful day!"

"Kyaa! Rita, no! If the teacher sees this!" squealed the surprised Lyla, who struggled to free herself of Rita's headlock. Maia watched her two friends for a while before joining Rita in wrestling their little friend. Together the three friends laughed under the cool spring breeze.

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Shibuya was out of bed early that Monday morning. His phone has been beeping non-stop since 6.00AM that morning, and the screen begun showing something like a world map.

"Since when does an old model phone like this have GPS?" he mumbled to himself, irritated by the loud noise his phone was making. He picked up the phone and observed the small map displayed on it. "Hmmmm……France?"

The red dot on the world map was clearly on France. There were two other blue dots, one somewhere in England while the other in Japan. The red dot was beeping, as also the blue dot on Japan.

Shibuya got out of bed and got ready into his school uniform. Whatever this is, it should not take that long… Or so he hoped.

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Mellissa Belle was up late writing her disappearance case article when her phone alarm went off.

"What's this?" she asked herself. She, too, had the world map displayed on her phone. The red dot on France was beeping steadily; the same is true for the blue dot on England. The blue dot on Japan was static however…

"Hmmm…" she fiddled a bit with her phone and got it too zoom into the England blue dot. The scene from the satellite-view like image was familiar…

Mellissa gasped as realization came over her. Without a word, she packed up her phone and threw on a white cardigan before rushing out of her house.

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The students of the Beaux-Evangel were already fast asleep and unaware as the cold midnight sky changed around them. Darkness began clouding the school, and dark Shadows began creeping down the halls of the emptied school.

Lyla, Maia and Rita were the only ones in the school area that night as the other girls are sleeping peacefully in their rooms at the residential dorm.

"Hey, are you guys sure about this?" asked Lyla timidly. She had never broke into the school before, but the continuous begging of Maia and Rita slowly took effect on Lyla's gullibility.

"Don't worry about this," Maia whispered, urging Lyla on. "We're just gonna sneak a peek at the exam papers, and get ourselves out of here before anyone knew we were even here!"

"Oh, I still have a bad feeling about this…" said Lyla, but followed anyway when Rita gave them the all-clear sign.

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"This is…" Shibuya couldn't recall how he got where he is now. He remembered entering the same shop house where he obtained his Persona, but if he was not mistaken the floor of that place was not made of polished marble, and there was no stained glass windows either.

"Did I end up somewhere else then?" he asked himself. And again his brain could not concoct a rational answer. It had been so crazy since the Persona incidence that nothing made sense anymore.

He looked out of the window, trying to find a clue to find a clue about where he currently is. He saw a meadow, and hills, but that is all there is as far as the eye can see. "Man, I must be in somewhere foreign, it was morning when I walked into that shop house… And the view is nothing Japanese…"

He walked around a bit, trying to clear his mind and think rationally. He can't remember if his mind was clear as a echoing sound footsteps signaled the presence of something; causing Shibuya to automatically enter his fighting stance.

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"Dare ka?!"

Mellissa couldn't fathom what the dark silhouette just shouted at her, but realized that it was a male. She was just trying to figure out where she were when she heard a low voice whispering some stuff in some unknown language and decided to find the source.

"Who's there?!" Mellissa shouted back at the dark figure just as she saw him pulling something out of his jacket, which in the darkness of the night she could not identify.

Thinking that conflict was unavoidable, Mellissa pulled out her cell phone. The Lovers Arcana appeared on the main screen.

"PERSONA!"

It seems that both she and the dark figure had shouted the same thing simultaneously at the same time.

The Lovers Arcana on Mellissa's phone shattered and gave rise to Gefjun, just as Tsukuyomi emerged from the blue light of the unidentified figure.

"Ar- Are you human?" she blurted out when she finally saw the features of the Asian boy in the blue light of his Persona.

"You're a Persona-user as well?" the boy questioned back. He seemed to have relaxed a bit, and his Persona disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Mellissa withdrew her Persona as well. She moved closer to the other Persona-user.

"I'm Mellissa Belle." She offered a friendly handshake. The boy looked at him for a second before taking her hand. "Shibuya Hiruma." He said, kinda slowly. He looked away from Mellissa's eyes when he said his name.

"So, do you know where we are?" he asked as soon as she let go of his hand.

"No idea." She answered simply. He nodded a little. "Judging by the geographical features around this building and the probable time zone we're in, I say we're still in Europe…" she hypothesized.

"This building is most probably a learning institution, most probably a school." Shibuya threw his own analysis. "I saw some pictures on the wall in the corridors back there…"

"Well, if it is than it's an all-girl's school, judging on how they only have female teams and even female Student Council Presidents…" Mellissa added on.

"You're not a student here, Belle-san?" Shibuya asked. Mellissa just shook her head. "Well, to tell you what happened; chronologically of course…First my phone went off, and showed the place where I entered my first Nightmare Zone." She recalled. "So, I went there… When I opened the door to the place… Hmmm… The next thing I remember after that was being here…"

"The same thing happened to me…" Shibuya told her.

"This is getting us nowhere…" Mellissa sighed again. "Well, if this IS a Nightmare Zone, than there's got to be some of those Shadows lurking around, right?"

"That is if we both entered another Nightmare Zone that was connected to the first Nightmare Zone we encountered…" Shibuya rubbed his chin, processing the information he had just received. "I think it would be better if we look around for more clues, don't you think?"

"Alright!" Mellissa gave Shibuya a confident smile, which Shibuya returned with a determined one. "I guess we have a Persona-user tag team ready to tear down any shadows that come our way! Put 'em there, partner!" Mellissa put up a high five.

Before Shibuya could return Mellissa's gesture, a loud female scream broke the silence of the night. A scream filled with pure terror…

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_Now the story's going to start moving. Hope those who read this would post a review. Even a short one would make me feel more secure. You can also put up ideas that I could try to fit into my story… Or even create a character that I could put for a cameo role in the series?_

_Hope you'll all enjoy Persona: One World *bows*. And thanks to those who had given their reviews. Please do tune in next time for more Persona action!_

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_


	6. Chronicle Six: On The Balance of Justice

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any ways, the Persona series or the characters associated with them. However, I do own this fic and all the characters that are created with it. With this I am done with the legal stuffs and finally getting down into the story... Thank you for reading!  
_

Persona: One World

Chronicle Six: On the Balance of Justice

Shibuya and Mellissa ran as fast as they could down the marble-floored hallway. They are in the Nightmare Zone, and they know that if anything could make someone let out a scream that frightening, it can't be anything good.

Together, they busted into the dark entrance hall of the building.

"God…" was the first word that escaped Mellissa's mouth at the sight of the monstrous Shadow. Its demonic muscular main body was enormous, filling almost half of the chapel sized entrance hall leaving only the main staircase and the hallways leading to the back of the building the only space unoccupied by the Shadow.

The rest of the body are large, pillar sized tentacles which reached up to the ceiling of the large hall. It has two distinguishable muscular arms, and wore a mask at where was supposed to be the head.

"TSUKUYOMI!" Shibuya shouted, waking up the dazed Mellissa. The Japanese teen had had his phone out and evidently had summoned his blue robed samurai Persona. Tsukuyomi drew his katana and slashed at the base of the creature.

Mellissa hadn't noticed the first time she and Shibuya entered the hall but there were 3 girls which seemed to had been attacked by the giant Shadow. One of the girls was caught in one of the Shadow's tentacles, while one of her friend was trying to pull her free despite the danger posed by being so near to the monster. The other girl was curled up behind the stairwell, appearing to be paralyzed by fear.

In one swift cleaving strike, Tsukuyomi cut the tentacles which bound the first girl. The Shadow seemed to recoil from the sudden attack and that chance was used by Shibuya and Mellissa to help the girl's friend to free her. It took quite an effort but they managed to get her to safety before the Shadow brought down another one of its tentacles upon them.

Tsukuyomi held up his sword and blocked the tentacle, allowing Shibuya, Mellissa and the two girls to slip under it and out of the Shadow's area of attack.

"Are you two okay?" Mellissa asked the two girls, who nodded. "Good, now get out of here..." She suggested, but remembered that there was no escaping the Nightmare Zone without defeating the Shadows dwelling within it.

"We tried but we can't seem to open any doors leading outside!' the shorter of the two brunettes. She seemed to have calmed down through the entire ordeal.

"I thought so too…" Mellissa mumbled. She pulled the two girls nearer to their friend who was cowering behind the stairs. "Stay here. I'll have to help that guy out…" Mellissa pointed at Shibuya whose Persona was trying his best to keep up with the overwhelming number of attacks thrown at him by the Shadow's tentacles.

"Excuse me, but can I know your name?" the short girl asked Mellissa.

"It's Mellissa." She answered, winking at the girl, before pulling out her own phone. He made sure the Lovers Arcana was in place before shouting, "PERSONA!!"

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Lyla couldn't believe her eyes. The girl – Mellissa – had held her phone in front of her, and suddenly there was a flash of light before a mystic looking woman, wearing a heart shaped mask appeared from, what it seems like, within her.

"About time!" shouted the Japanese boy, as Mellissa stood next to her. The masked woman charged up the orb she was holding with electricity before firing the built up energy at the monster.

The lightning bolt left Lyla blinded for a second, but a load groan from the monster confirmed that the attack had scored a direct hit.

"Mellissa, watch out!" Lyla shouted, as she saw one of the tentacles swinging towards the blonde. She turned just in time, but there was no time for her to dodge it…

There was a flash of blue, and a streak of silver as the Japanese boy's samurai appeared suddenly between Mellissa and the gigantic tentacle and slashed off what would have been certain death for Mellissa in one upward strike.

"Wow… that was a close save, thanks Shibuya…" She said that and looked at Lyla as well indicating that the gratitude was partially hers as well. The boy – Shibuya – looked at her too, but turned away quickly when smile at him.

"We cant' just focus on attacking," Shibuya told Mellissa, "Then we're left a sitting duck for attacks…"

"But attacking singularly doesn't work against this beast…" Mellissa replied. Her face tightened as she tried to figure out a solution. She jumped out of the way of falling debris which was a result of a lightning bolt from Gefjun that was deflected, hitting the decoration on the ceiling. "Any ideas?"

"None at the moment…" Shibuya answered. At the same time Tsukuyomi weaved around another tentacle, slashing it off when he was safely out of its swing route. He, however, was forced to relent of his attack as the main body swung out an arm, trying to swat him out of the air.

"This isn't working… Tsukuyomi, Getsu-ei!" Shibuya shouted out the name of the attack, which Tsukuyomi's katana shone a faint blue matching the full moon and swung it at the monster. The blue surge of energy that was emitted from the sword slashed through air and tentacles alike, but lost most of its energy penetrating through the thick wall of tentacles rendering it useless against the main body of the Shadow.

"Outta the way, Shibuya!" Mellissa shouted. Gefjun had charged up a phenomenal amount of energy, and was about to release it in one strike. Shibuya nodded, and Tsukuyomi moved out of the area of attack. "Fry it! Gefjun!"

Gefjun let loose the electrical energy in one exceptionally large bolt of lightning, but not before the main body of the Shadow fired a large mass of dark energy from its mouth against the blue lightning. The two forces crashed into one another in mid air, causing a large explosion to occur in between the Persona and the Shadow.

Caught in the explosion were both Tsukuyomi and Shibuya, who was knocked down from the sheer force of the explosion. "Shibuya!" Lyla shouted, running towards the fallen boy. Mellissa turned towards Shibuya, causing her concentration to lapse for a second and giving the Shadow a chance to lash out its tentacle, swatting Gefjun out of the air.

"Urgh!" Mellissa grunted as Gefjun slammed into the marble floors of the hall. Any damage inflicted on the Persona is transmitted to the user as well, and Gefjun took quite a nasty fall. Mellissa fell to her knees, clutching her shoulder in pain. Shibuya got back to his feet, but was in no shape to fight against the Shadow. "Damn it… Is this all I can do?"

Lyla looked at the two fallen fighters, both whom had fought hard for her and her friends and even got hurt doing so.

_What can I do?_ The question kept replaying itself in Lyla's head. She felt so guilty, so useless, to let two strangers get hurt because of her and her friend's stupidity._ Why can't I fight? We are the ones who should be suffering, not Mellissa and Shibuya. We're the ones who should be injured not them…_

"_I am thou ..."_

"I won't let you hurt them anymore…" Lyla whispered, walking towards the monster as if in a trance.

"No!" Mellissa and Shibuya shouted together, watching in horror as Lyla walked closer towards the monster without any form of defense.

"…_And thou art I…"_

"Per…so…na…" Lyla whispered. She grabbed a card from out of thin air, a green light trailing the card. The card showed a balance held by a sword in the middle; both sides having no advantage over the other. The card shattered into a million pieces, and more green lights emerged from the shattered pieces of the cards.

From the green light of the card, a female figure appeared. She was clad in a full archer's armor and held a feather adorned bow in its hand. The helm she was wearing covered the top part of her face and let her golden blonde hair flow behind her.

"A Persona?" Shibuya blurted out as the newly awakened Persona took an arrow from its quiver and shot upwards. Green light overflowed from the arrow, bathing Shibuya and Mellissa in a shower of green lights.

"Wow? I'm feeling reenergized already!" exclaimed Mellissa, springing back onto her feet. It was true, even the small cut on Shibuya's arm started healing at an astounding rate.

The monstrous Shadow seemed to have realized the properties of the rain of light as well, as it swung out one of its arms at the female hunter Persona. It was too slow, though, as Tsukuyomi had first jumped at the base of the arm, swinging his katana with all his might.

The arm was just inches from the hunter Persona when it fell limp in a heap on the floor. The arm was severed from the main body by Tsukuyomi who stood victoriously on the monster's dismembered shoulder.

A few of the monster's tentacles made its way towards the samurai Persona, but fell short of him when a blast of lightning disintegrated them. Gefjun floated in fronted of her user, firing bolt after bolt of lightning.

"The Shadow's tentacles have regenerative properties! That's why there seems to be so many of 'em!" Lyla told the other Persona-users. "My Persona, Diana has analytic abilities but it will take some time before it can completely analyze the target!"

"Glad to have you on the team, girl!" Mellissa told Lyla. Her Persona Gefjun stood side-by-side with Diana, one shooting bolts of lightning while the other shot arrows one after another. "It's Lyla!" she told the taller female Persona-user.

"I'll cover you; you tell us where the monster is weak at!" Mellissa shouted, stepping in front of the shorter girl. Gefjun focused her energy into the orb it was holding, erecting a barrier of pure electricity around the two girls and their Personae. Inside, Lyla began to focus, the Persona Diana bending over to the ground like a hunter tracking his target.

Shibuya and Tsukuyomi were at the frontline, taking out tentacle after tentacle, only to have them regenerated again. Even so, Shibuya kept on fighting. He trusted the girls to come up with a game plan, all he has to do now is to believe in them and do what he can.

"I got it!" Lyla exclaimed suddenly. "It's very weak under that mask it's wearing. We've got to get under it somehow!"

"I think I know…" Mellissa recalled how the Shadow retaliated to her lightning attack by firing a blast of darkness energy from its mouth. The monster opened its mouth then and exposed its face under the mask… Now she just has to do it again…

"Gefjun!" Mellissa shouted out. The female sorcerer Persona retracted her protective barrier and charged up electricity into the orb once again. The ball of lightning expanded greatly before Gefjun pushed it forward, sending millions of volts of electricity at the Shadow.

The Shadow saw the incoming attack, and opened its mouth to fire its dark breath counterattack. Mellissa saw the attack coming and turned to look towards Shibuya.

"Tsukuyomi!" Shibuya shouted. Tsukuyomi appeared under the Shadow, the blade of his katana radiated a brilliant ocean blue light. In one mighty heave, the samurai Persona slashed upwards, sending the crescent sapphire shockwave upwards towards the Shadow's exposed mouth.

The slash ripped the mask from underneath it, taking along with it the gargantuan Shadow with it. The entire body of the Shadow flailed as its main body started to dissipate before finally disappearing into the darkness.

The three Persona-users watched the Shadow vanish before recalling their own Personas.

"We… did it?" Lyla said to the other two, looking exhausted but satisfied.

"Yeah, we did it…"Mellissa echoed her. The other two girls that were hiding, Maia and Rita, came out of their hiding spot and hugged Lyla tightly. Mellissa turned away, letting the group share their tearful moment.

"Shibuya?"

Mellissa ran towards the boy, who was down on the floor and sweating profusely. "Hey, hang in there! Shibuya!!"

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_I guess this chapter is one big epic fight scene… It was quite fun to write fighting chapters like this, even though it's very very tough…_

_I want to thank those who had submitted your character designs; you know who you are... I'll tell out your names when your characters appear in the story!  
_

_Anyway, I thank all that had graciously spent their time reading my fic! Please do tune in next time for more Persona action! _

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_


	7. Chronicle Seven: The Velvet Room Guests

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series, nor the characters associated with it. But, I do own this story and the characters introduced in this story.  
_

Persona: One World

Chronicle Seven: The Velvet Room Guests

"Wake up, Shibuya Hiruma."

"What the…?" Shibuya rubbed his eyes, still groggy from being suddenly woken up from sleep. It took some time before he could make out the form of a short, bald man with a long nose. He's sitting on a sofa, and a small table was in front of him.

"My name is Igor. And worry not; you are perfectly asleep in the real world."

"Real world? Than, where is this? A dream?" Shibuya asked. For some reason, maybe it's the luxurious looking room, or the fact that the room seemed to be wobbling steadily from left to right, Shibuya spoke quite decently, almost formal, which is rare for the boy.

"This is a world located between your world and the dream world." Igor explained. He put his gloved hands together, and a key magically appeared in Shibuya's hand. "This is the Velvet Room."

"Velvet Room? Hey, are we on a ship? Where are we heading?" Shibuya asked, looking around frantically.

"We are going somewhere, but also nowhere. However this is a ship, so we can go anywhere." Igor answered smiling his creepy smile.

"Uhh, I don't get it…"

"Well, that key in your hand opens the door to this very room. We, the denizens of this room, and other guests will always be here to provide you any necessary assistance."

"We? Hey, are there others here too?"

Igor waved his hand and Shibuya started to lose consciousness. "Wait…" was all he could say before falling back to sleep.

"So, what say the two of you?" Igor turned to two men that were standing in the shadows, out of Shibuya's view.

"His power is as powerful as mine, and he awakened to it naturally…" said the first man, the one with the silver gray hair. "His power may have the ability to grow even beyond mine."

"I see what you mean, but within the short period of time will he…?" Igor tried to express his worries, but the other man with dark blue hair interrupted him. "I'll hold 'it' off as much as I can. As long as the malice of the world grows at this current rate, there should be enough time for him to awaken to his true powers…"

"I understand." Igor said. "Well, I guess you both should be getting back as well…" He waved his hand, and the two men disappeared. Igor turned around and looked at the empty room."Are you satisfied now… master?"

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"He's stirring!"

"Really?!"

"Shh… not so loud! Do you want the teachers to know we've got a guy here?"

"Why shouldn't they know? He saved us and the whole school!"

"There was no proof. The wreckage from your fight last night disappeared… more like it looked like the place hadn't been touched since last evening."

"What? No way…"

Shibuya slowly opened his eyes, from what he could see he was in a dorm room and the three girls plus Mellissa was sitting around the room apparently waiting for him to wake up. "What happened?" he said, well he more of croaked, actually.

"Well to put it simply, you passed out." Mellissa answered his question and gave him a glass of water.

"Thanks." He drank down the water to wet his parched throat. " Where is this? I thought I was on a ship somewhere?"

"Ship? Well, I don't want to know what you were dreaming about with the ships, but you went out cold after the battle. It took all of us to take you back up here without anyone noticing…" She glanced back at the other girls. "Oh by the way, our new Persona-user friend is Lyla Jean Guelle…"

"Just call me Lyla." The short brown-haired girl that Shibuya remembered saving said shyly.

"This is Maia," Mellissa gestured at the girl that was caught by the Shadow and then the cowering girl. "And Rita."

"This is our dorm room." Maia told him. "Sorry, but none of us wanted to give up their bed so we put you on some bed sheets on the floor."

_That explained why my back is freaking sore…_

Shibuya remembered something, and turned urgently to Mellissa. "Hey, can't we go back to where we came from? How come we're still here?"

"That is…" Mellissa seemed disappointed about something. "After we took you here, I went back to where I came in here from… But it seemed that the door I came through became a normal door again… Maybe it was because the Nightmare Zone had disappeared by then…"

"Maybe if we come back there tonight, you guys could go back to the doors you each came in through." Lyla spoke up.

"Maybe… but if we're caught here, well actually if YOU'RE caught, during the day, we'll get thrown out of the school, we might not be able to come back here… And what's worse we don't even have our passports here with us…" Mellissa reasoned, disappointed.

"Don't worry. I've got the perfect plan." Lyla winked, causing everyone to wonder what evil scheme is cooking up in the brains of this cute little evil genius.

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"Perfect plan my foot…" Shibuya mumbled as he watered the flowers in the front garden of the Beaux-Evengel Academy. He had changed from his Shirayuki High blazer into a blue janitor overall, and is carrying a rubber hose to water the vast gardens of the Academy.

"I'm lucky though that no other Japanese is passing through here… Otherwise I'd be marked as a disgrace to the Japanese pop-fashion culture generation…" he sighed before tugging at the hose to continue watering the plants. Unknown to him, a black Rolls-Royce had just parked nearby and a pair of scarlet eyes was watching him intently.

Mellissa got the easy way out though, as she got to hide in plain sight. The other girls had got her a spare uniform and she was asked to stay in the library during classes. It was a good thing that Lyla was the librarian on duty that day, so she was able to sneak Mellissa inside and locked her in.

Inside, Mellissa perused some of the books on the shelves. She then looked into the materials on the history of the school. She found the information she was looking for on the school website.

"Hmm… this school was established in 2014… That was like, 5 years ago? And the founder was……huh?!!"

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Lyla couldn't keep her focus during class. She kept catching herself thinking about Shibuya, thinking what he is doing right now, whether he is safe or caught, about how he looked like when he slept last nigh, the way his gentle features shone against the full moon…

"AHHHH!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!!!!" she shouted out. An instant later she knew she shouldn't have done that. She was standing upright, her hands clutching her hair like a madman. What's worse the entire class is now looking curiously at her. "Infirmary, _Madamoiselle _Jean Guelle…"

"_Oui, Professeur…" _she obediently walked out of the class, wondering which was it that is causing her face to feel so hot, being embarrassed in front of the whole class or the thougts of 'him'…

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If fighting the Shadow last night wasn't that frightening, this guy who had called Shibuya off his watering duty was much more intimidating. By his attire Shibuya got the impression he is a teacher in the academy, or maybe even a mafia… He looked like a cross between those two breeds.

"Oi, peon! Come here!" That was how that man called Shibuya earlier. Though his first instinct was to beat the crap out of the man, he followed as the man had ordered him to.

The man led Shibuya through a confusing path around the school, until the teen had lost track on how many flights of stairs he had gone up and down…

"Here," said the irritated teacher when they reached a set of large oak double doors. "You enter here alone, the Headmistress is waiting…"

Shibuya just nodded and knocked on the door before opening it. He entered a large office room where large bookshelves filled the walls of the room. There was a table in the centre of the room and a large chair behind it, which had its back against Shibuya.

"_Bonjour,_" said a woman's voice from the figure sitting on the chair. She slowly turned her chair around to face Shibuya. She looked at him with her intimidating scarlet eyes, which was complemented by her fiery red hair. "Or should I say… _konichiwa_?"

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_Alright, so a mystery character was added at the end of this short chapter. I wonder who that person is…_

_I am still taking in character designs from all of you, but this time I want some villains… Maybe some evil Persona-users of that sort… help me out okay guys!_

_For all that had been reading and reviewing this story, merci! I hope you've enjoyed the story so far!_

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_


	8. Chronicle Eight: Convergence

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: Once again, I'll say that I do not own the Persona series and the characters that were introduced in the series. But I do own this story and the characters that I made up, the characters submitted by the others are the properties of their original creators as well._

Persona: One World

Chronicle Eight: Convergence

"Anansi!"

A Shadow was sent flying a few yards away from where it had previously stood in one mighty swing of the giant spider Persona's arms. Behind the Persona stood its user, who held his phone in one hand and a .45 Colt in the other.

Ever since he had acquired his Persona, Terrence 'Trance' Barker had been scouting around New York City every night in search for Nightmare Zones. In the first week he had done 4 Nightmare Zones, each which he cleared without any challenges.

"I guest this one's in the bag as well…" Trance said, looking at his phone. The active Nightmare Zone, marked by the beeping red dot changed into a dormant one, which was represented by a blue dot.

"On to the next one, then!" he recalled his Persona and watched as the traces of the Nightmare Zone disappear into the night.

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_Xin Pin National University; Engineering Faculty_

Evening classes seem to drag on as usual, but at least Wang had something to look forward to that night.

"Wang, over here!" Ai called Wang quickly after the last class of the day was over. She was looking very worried.

"What's up?" he asked her casually. She showed him her phone, which was showing a world map. He looked at it, and saw a number of blue dots and a red dot. "GPS?"

"No!" Ai said defensively. "Well… I don't know… It just appeared suddenly during class even though I it had turned it off before class…" She was suddenly on the verge of tears, much to Wang's surprise. _Man, I knew that girls cry easily, but this is too much…_

"Now, now… eh… c'mon don't cry…" Wang scratched his head. His hand absent-mindedly reached for his phone in his pocket.

"Now this is weird…" Wang said suddenly. His phone showed the same map as on Ai's, with the same dots on the same locations. Ai looked at it, and back at the dumbstruck Wang. "This has had to have something to do with the Nightmare Zone…"

Wang kept the phone back into his pocket, before leading Ai away from the crowd. "We've got to check this out." He told her, dragging her by the arm. "It's showing the building we fought those Shadows three days ago, and we couldn't risk someone else walking into it and getting slaughtered by a Shadow!"

"But if they could awaken their Persona…" Wang didn't let Ai finish her retort. "I don't what happened to us works the same if it were to befall onto others." Ai was quiet for the rest of the trip.

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Trance's now gasping for air, his body's movement slowing. What's worse, whatever that's happening to him seemed to affect his Persona as well and vice-versa.

"Damn this son of a…" he cursed. The giant Shadow was perched on the Statue of Liberty. It looks and moves like a giant lizard, or to better put it like Godzilla. The spiky plated monster looked exactly like the monster from the movies, with exception of its two ugly heads.

The beast was easily four times larger than Trance's Person Anansi of the Hanged Man Arcana, but just as agile. Silently he wondered if he had bitten off more than he could chew.

The gigantic Shadow lashed out its spike-lined tail at the spider Persona once again, but the attack was nimbly dodged by the Persona. In a successive continuous attack, both heads of the Godzilla-Shadow fired fire balls alternately.

Anansi was able to block the bombardment attack by generating a gale force wind barrier which caused the flames to ignite before it was in range which it could harm him. The Shadow continued to rain fire upon the spider, slowly wearing down the Persona's defense.

Trance knew that his defense is faltering, if nobody were to come to rescue him soon he would be left as nothing but a charred piece of charcoal. _Someone… Anyone! Help me!!_

_**************************************************************************************  
_

"Where are we, Wang?" Ai asked Wang upon entering the Nightmare Zone. The place they're in is no longer the Engineering Faculty. It was quite familiar to Ai though… "Is this the Nightmare Zone?"

Her question was answered when the building shook violently and a loud roar was heard over the distance.

"It came from outside!" Wang shouted, rushing towards the exit. Ai followed suit, her mind still not recalling where she had seen the building they were in before.

They rushed out of the building, and once outside did the memory stirred in Ai's brain. "The Statue of Liberty?!" She exclaimed. She remembered visiting the American monument a few years back while vacationing with her family.

"There! The Shadow!" Wang pointed at the Statue and the oversized lizard like creature wrapped around it.

"It's huge! How're we going to fight something like that?" Ai shouted, stunned at the very size of the creature. However, Wang had already sprinted towards the colossal being.

"Sui Ren!" Wang shouted, pulling out his PDA phone. The image of the Chariot Arcana flashed for a second before shattering, releasing a bright crimson light. The warrior Persona appeared by his User's side and followed him charging against the monster.

"Wang, wait!" Ai tried to catch up to him, pulling out her own phone in the progress. "Areong Jong!" From the Strength Arcana on her phone emerged the water swordswoman Persona, who joined Sui Ren in his charge.

The gigantic Shadow seemed to not realize the two Personas approaching both its head until they struck. The crimson male warrior struck first, smashing its large iron ball onto the one of the Shadow's skull. Both the Shadow's heads roared in pain and its body lost grip on the statue.

The other Persona spared no time for momentary glory as she summoned the water from around the Liberty Island to fuse with her swords, creating a large pure water sword. The female swordsman Persona swung the sword with all her might, knocking the lizard-like Shadow from the Statue.

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For the first time in his life, Trance felt that his prayers were answered. _That's it… I'm giving up atheism...  
_

The two warrior Personas had successfully knocked down the Shadow onto the ground without much effort.

"Hey! Over here!" he called out to the two persons that were running towards him. To his surprise, one of them was a girl and they were both Chinese. Not that he had anything wrong with Chinese people though…

"Are you alright?" the girl asked him in perfectly fluent English. Trance nodded, but winced when he felt his wounded leg sting under the pressure from his body. The girl saw this and summoned her Persona over to her side. "You're hurt. Don't move."

Trance did as he was told as the girl's Persona moved some of its water on his wound. The small stinging sensation caused Trance to wince a little, but later the wound started healing at an unbelievable rate that the wound had closed up in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks." He said getting up on his now healed leg. The Chinese got up too, as the Chinese guy approached the two of them.

"You okay, buddy?" he asked Trance.

"Never better." Trance pulled out his phone again. Anansi had disappeared earlier due to serious injuries on Trance, but now Trance could feel that his Persona's fit for another fight.

The lizard Shadow had begun getting up again, this time on all fours.

"Here it comes, Anansi!" he summoned his spider Persona, which outsized the two warrior Personas by twice their size. The two Chinese Persona-users seemed shocked by the size of Trance's Persona.

"Let's do this… umm…"

"Wang Soi Feng," said the Chinese boy. "Call me Wang."

"Ai Si Ying," said the Chinese girl, smiling sweetly. "Ai for short."

Trance nodded and pointed at himself with his thumb. "Trance. Now let's do this!"

The lizard Shadow was now on its feet. It gave a loud roar – correction TWO loud roars- as its twin heads both breathed out flames. The sea of flames approached the three youngsters when Ai's Persona, Areong Jong, stepped in front of them. By summoning a large wall of water, she parted the flames and opened a path for both Anansi and Sui Ren to rush through.

The giant spider tackled one head of the Shadow, grabbing hold on the scaly beast's head. Sui Ren jumped up, his hand which was not holding his weapon up in the air. Crimson flames began to gather in his palm, slowly forming the shape of a Chinese dragon.

"Finish 'im off!!" The two male users shouted simultaneously as Anansi buried its fangs deep through the scaly hide, injecting toxic venom into the monster. On the other head, Sui Ren threw the dragon fireball at the Shadows head, which the flames quickly engulfed.

Within a few second, the Shadow lay dead on the floor with one head dead by poison while the other burnt to no a point of no return. The three Persona-users watched the creature burn and disappear into darkness.

"Alllllrrrrrrrriiiiiigggggghhhhttttt!" Trance exclaimed loudly. A few minutes ago he thought he was a goner for sure, but was miraculously saved by the two Chinese strangers. "Dudes, I can't thank you guys enough! Who are you guys, the Justice League or something?"

"Er… Not really though…" Wang scratched his head. It was his first time talking to a real American black, and he wasn't sure what to say to not be labeled as a racist. And to add to the point, the black guy he was talking to was holding a gun.

"We came here through the Statue of Liberty," Ai spoke up; she sounded so calm and gentle to the American. "We're actually from the mainland China, and when we tried to enter a Nightmare Zone from our end we…"

"Ended up here, I see…" Trance finished her sentence for her. "I guess if you both go back through which door you guys entered earlier you just might be able to go back."

"I see… That made sense…" Wang said, rubbing his chin. "Come on Ai, let's go."

"Hold up!" Trance called after the pair. "I thought that we should, you know, keep in touch… as Persona-users?"

"Good idea." Ai said, pulling out her phone. The three of them swapped phone numbers.

"Alright, then." Wang and Ai said after they are done with the contacts. They both walked quickly back towards the base of the Statue of Liberty. Trance watched both of them go, or more specifically watched Ai as she disappeared into the building.

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_Sorry for the late update! I finished a few future chapters when I realized that I hadn't updated this in a while! Anyway please read and review!_

_I took a break from Shibuya's group side of the story, just to let Trance and the others get some screen time. Shibuya's story will be continued in the next chapter so wait for it!_

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_


	9. Chronicle Nine: Honor

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I hereby declare that I do not own the Persona series nor the characters associated with them, however I do own this storyline and all character associated with it, with exception of a few characters that are submitted to me by my dear readers. Thank you!_

Persona: One World

Chronicle Nine: Honor

Shibuya Hiruma was stunned. He was caught so off guard by the Beaux-Evangel Academy headmistress's greeting that he was stupefied.

"I run through every application for a job here myself. So I knew instantly that I've never appointed someone as young as you as a janitor or a gardener." She said; her smile was like those of a famous model. "Nor did I ever appoint a Japanese to work in France."

"Y..You're…" Shibuya stuttered.

"Mitsuru Kirijo, board director of the Kirijo Group." The red haired headmistress said, putting her fingers together. She looked very elegant in her expensive business suit, not forgetting very, very intimidating. "What is your name, boy?"

"S-Shibuya, Shibuya Hiruma…ma'am" he stuttered as his heart pounded so hard against his throat it was making it hard for him to speak.

"Sit down, Hiruma-kun." Mitsuru gestured at a chair in front of her table. He was hesitant, but sat down after a sharp look from the Headmistress. "Make yourself comfortable, it's not like I'm going to execute you or anything…"

Shibuya wasn't very confident about her statement but kept his doubts to himself. Mitsuru looked deeply into his eyes, and Shibuya felt the temperature of his face rise a few degrees.

"You're a Persona-user aren't you?"

Shibuya stood up again so fast that the chair fell behind him. His eyes were wide and his heart was beating ten times as fast now. "How did you-?"

Mitsuru Kirijo just chuckled, and got off her chair as well. "Isn't it obvious? I'm was one as well." She said calmly.

"What?!"

"I was one of the members of S.E.E.S., which had averted the coming of Nyx ten years ago in Port Island city." She explained. "An event that was forgotten in history, I'm afraid."

"Ten years ago…" Shibuya whispered. "That was when they said that the end of the world was coming, right?! The night where the moon changes into some kind of machine or something, right? The night of that was supposed to be the end of the world?!"

It was Mitsuru's turn to be surprised. "I see that you remember that event well," she said, nodding to herself. "It must have been your latent Persona powers that allowed you to remember such an event. You must have been what, 6, back then?"

"So, it was true…" Shibuya looked at the floor, as if remembering something from the distant past.

"On the more recent events," she returned to her normal, formal tone. "There was a Shadow right here in this school last night, wasn't it?"

"Yes." His confidence is returning. He is now able to speak normally

"I see…" Mitsuru seemed to be lost in thought, and spoke again only after a few minutes. "It seems that the never-ending battle between Shadows and Persona-users now befall upon the newer generations…"

"What?" Shibuya asked, shocked to see the sudden change in the tone of voice of the headmistress.

"No, nothing at all." She said dismissively. "Now go back and change into whatever you were originally wearing. The janitor uniform doesn't suit you at all. You have permission to join the other students during dinner as well as using all of the school's facilities until then."

Shibuya nodded, and walked out of the office without looking back at the headmistress. He missed the sad look that crossed the headmistress's face as she looked at him.

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Mellissa sat between Lyla and Maia during dinner. She had gotten to know the rest of the class, which has all agreed to help camouflage her. Only now did Mellissa realize how much different the students were from boarding schools when compared to usual daily school students.

"I wonder how Shibuya is though…" Mellissa sighed before lunch began.

"He'll be okay; I guess he's having a blast playing janitor." Lyla joked to which Mellissa and

"Guess again Lyla…" Rita pulled her friend's sleeve. Lyla and Mellissa looked round, and their jaws fell. There he was, as if walking in slow motion, Shibuya, side-by-side with the headmistress Kirijo.

Noise started filling the dining hall as each girl chatted excitedly about the boy-who-just entered-the-hall-with-headmistress. There were suppressed giggles everywhere and every girl seemed to be looking at him.

"Err… Mitsuru-san… I don't think…" he whispered into the headmistress's ear but she quickly 'shushed' him before addressing the other students.

"_Taisez-vous, s'il-vous-plait! _(Be quiet, please!)_" _Headmistress Mitsuru addressed the students, and the hall fell silent instantly. "_Merci_.(Thank you.)" She muttered before continuing.

"Today, we are welcoming two new friends from overseas, both whom are going to be exchange-students here at our Academy." Mitsuru spoke to the students, who seemed to be giving their utmost attention. Shibuya took the chance to scan the hall and found Maia, Rita, Mellissa and Lyla sitting together at the same table. He caught Lyla's eyes, who smiled and waved at him.

"So, let's give a warm welcome to our exchange-students, Mr. Shibuya Hiruma and Miss Mellissa Belle!" Mitsuru ended her speech with an applause which the students joined in. At the same time, the students said in unison, "_Bienvenue, Monsieur Shibuya! Bienvenue, Mademoiselle Mellissa! _(Welcome, Mr. Shibuya! Welcome, Miss Mellissa!)_"_

Mellissa was surprised by the warmth of the welcome of the Academy students that she felt that she was one of them. She looked at Shibuya, whose reception was far warmer than hers. Well, to put it to words he was practically swarmed by the girls, who all seemed eager to get to know him better.

"_Se calmer, filles! _(Calm down, girls!)" Mitsuru commanded, but her face was breaking into a smile. "Our new friends must be famished by their travels, so I suggest we let them enjoy the great spread that they would soon get used to everyday!"

The girls quickly got back to their tables and said their thanks for the food which they put Shibuya's name and Mellissa's somewhere in their recital.

"_Bon appetit!" _

That night, Shibuya, Mellissa, Lyla, Maia, Rita and headmistress Mitsuru head out to the entrance hall. Shibuya and Mellissa were to return to their hometown that night, Mellissa to pack her things to officially being an exchange student here at the Academy and Shibuya to finally get home.

"You sure you don't want to stay here?" Mitsuru asked her before he stepped into the door that which he had came in.

"I would love to, but I have my mother to take care of… Maybe I'll be here for the second term…" Shibuya said. It was true; he would love to stay here but to leave his mother like that…

"I see…" Mitsuru nodded. "I'll try to arrange something about your mother, so you're welcome here anytime."

"Thank you, Kirijo-san. I'll be off now." He said, looking at the door. A part of him wanted to stay here, with Mellissa, Lyla and the others, but another part of him wanted to return to his mother… Well not really to his mother, but to Japan…

Mitsuru and the other girls bade him farewell as he stepped through the Nightmare Zone entrance which he had entered last night.

"Will he be back, Headmistress?" Lyla asked as Shibuya's form disappeared into the darkness, leaving no trace of him ever being there.

"He will," Mitsuru told the short girl. "Persona-users are like magnet, they'll stick to each other no matter what."

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Shibuya walked out of the Nightmare Zone and into the warmth of the morning sunlight. He checked the time on his phone, which showed that it was already 8:30 A.M. He thought about sneaking into school, but scrapped the idea after thinking how much commotion he would make as he had been absent from school for two days straight without any contact from home and then making a sudden appearance at school.

In the end he decided to return home, however that his mother's going to accept him he didn't care. As long as he is able to go back to home and back to his room, it'll be fine.

He started to take a stroll home, walking as slowly as he could to enjoy the morning breeze. He looked around the less packed Harajuku district, though still crowded, there was still room to walk around and look at the shops.

Time seemed to pass quickly when you're enjoying yourself, as after what seemed for Shibuya to be a few hours of window-shopping; it was already time for dinner. He checked his wallet, but found out that he had not enough money to afford himself a fast-food dinner. So, he decided that the time was right for him to go back home.

He walked back through the outskirts of the shopping district and passed by the Nightmare Zone again. He was walking past it when he suddenly felt a sharp upbeat in his heart.

"This feeling… Shadows?!" he shouted, apparently to himself. He turned on the spot and ran towards the shop-house again, his hand already on his phone.

He barged into the Nightmare Zone without a single hesitation, and realized that in the Nightmare Zone the time is always at night. He can see the moon from out of the window, and even feel the chill of the spring night breeze.

Then, they appeared, the Shadows. They appeared from everywhere, through the wall, from the floor, some even descended from the ceilings.

"Alright, come on! All at once, now!" Shibuya taunted, holding his phone in front of him. The Shadows seemed agitated by his presence, and quickly launched themselves at him.

"TSUKUYOMI!!!" the blue light spiraled around Shibuya, and the blue robed samurai Persona emerged from within him. The samurai took position in front of its User, brandishing his katana at the attacking Shadows. The Shadows stood no chance against the Persona, who easily cut through their first wave of attack.

"This is easy!" Shibuya laughed. His Persona stood invincible against the Shadow onslaught, his katana slashing through the air as if in a dance. The number of Shadows dwindled quickly, but not the ferocity of their attack.

After striking down enough of the minion-class Shadows, it was a matter of time before the giant grand-daddy-class Shadow appeared. It was really huge; its head was nearly touching the ceiling of the shop house.

Shibuya looked up at the beast, but just broke into a smile. Tsukuyomi got into stance and faced the beast when suddenly…

"Thunder Slash!"

Tsukuyomi hadn't taken a step but the Shadow suddenly fell. The mask on its face split to half before entire body disappeared into the darkness.

"What in the world?"

Shibuya moved out of the crashing Shadow's way, as it disappeared into the darkness the moment it hit the ground. It was not until the dust kicked up by the Shadow's fall had cleared up that Shibuya was able to see the person responsible for the kill.

The guy was quite thin and tall, a little taller than Shibuya himself. He had black hair with some silver highlights on it and was wearing semi-framed glasses. He looked straight at Shibuya, and then at his Persona.

"A samurai as well, huh?" he said skeptically. Shibuya noticed the guy's Persona, which was a samurai a well. The Persona was taller than Tsukuyomi, wore a mask over his face with a long black ponytail. He wore a grey yukata underneath silver samurai armor, complete with shoulder and arm guards. He carried three katanas, which was crossed over his back and held two in its hands.

"Who are you?" Shibuya asked, not letting down his guard. The guy looked back at him before saying calmly. "You're Shibuya Hiruma aren't you, the junior from Shirayuki?"

Shibuya was startled by the fact that the guy knew him, as he didn't recognize the guy. _Damn it. The guy hadn't answered my question, and how did he know about me?_

"My name is Kyoji Kinomura, senior from Hakugane High." He introduced himself, and the moment the name was said did Shibuya remembered with a jolt.

"You beat our Kendo Team last year, didn't you? During the district championship?" Shibuya shouted. Kyoji gave a short laugh. "Yes, I did. And that was where I saw you, Hiruma-kun. Too bad you lost on your first round…"

Shibuya growled a little. He didn't want to remember that incident, where he slipped on his own robes and fell just as the first individual match was starting... He never touched a shinai again since…

"So, Hiruma-kun. Show me, the way of your sword." Kyoji looked serious again. His Persona pointed one of his swords at Tsukuyomi, while the other held high over his head in a Musashi-style _Ni-Ten Ichi Ryu _"En garde."

Shibuya had expected that much; Tsukuyomi had also lowered its position into aslashing stance. "This is what you wanted right, Kyoji-sempai?" Shibuya said into Kyoji's face, their glares meeting each other like two forces of a storm.

Then, in one unified battle cries of their Users, both samurai Personas charged at each other, katanas leveled at each others neck.

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_In this chapter a new character had been revealed, and it's a creation of one of the readers! Thank you, Minako the Dragon Maiden of DW! Other characters that have been accepted shall make an appearance in the next few chapters, I promise!_

_Characters Received and Accepted So Far:_

_Two characters from Minako (both good and bad, one of them is Kyoji), one from Kaeru Soyokaze, one from Kakanma. And Aoirann, who gave me an idea for a character. Thanks all, and I hope to receive more suggestions from you guys._

_I used some French words and phrases in this chapter, but I'm not very sure about the accuracy of my usage... Please do tell me if you find any mistakes regarding them...  
_

_Till next time, please do read and review!_


	10. Chronicle Ten: Full Circle

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series or the characters in relation to the series. However, I do own this series, and the characters I introduced in this series. The character Kyoji Kinomura and his Persona, Musashi Miyamoto, are the creations of Minako the Dragon Maiden of DW._

Persona: One World

Chronicle Ten: Full Circle

"Tsukuyomi!" "Musashi!"

Only blurs of blue and gray, and swift flashes of silver marked the titanic battle between the two samurai Personas. Kyoji Kinomura's Persona, Musashi Miyamoto against Shibuya Hiruma's Tsukuyomi.

Musashi's twin sword style, the _Ni-Ten Ichi Ryu, _provided him with a wider range of possible attack angles, but Tsukuyomi's adeptness at his _battojutsu _techniques and lightning quick draws provided no quarter for Musashi to take advantage of.

"Not bad, Hiruma-kun…" said Kyoji, who was drenched in sweat as his Persona fought hard to keep up with Tsukuyomi's speed. "You're no slouch yourself, sempai…" Shibuya replied, he too sweating from the heavy blows dealt by Musashi Miyamoto's two katanas.

Only after the two fighters parted for the seventh time did they stopped to catch their breath. Kyoji and Shibuya both were exhausted, but refused to let the other have the upper hand in this battle.

The Personas went at it again, this time their attacks were faster and deadlier than ever.

"Time to end this! Boufuken (Gale Sword)!" Kyoji shouted. His samurai Persona summoned six more astral swords around him. Each of the swords rotated around its summoner with their points facing outwards; which generated a great gust of wind and lightning.

The wind raged throughout the Nightmare Zone, destroying any surviving Shadow which was inhibiting the area. However, one figure stood stoically in the hurricane. The blue-clad samurai Persona and his user stood; their hair and clothes billowing in the wind but not backing an inch in the face of the mighty attack. Through the raging winds Kyoji saw Shibuya's eyes glow a curious blue.

The Persona jumped back, his hand on his sheathed sword as Shibuya shouted, "Shichiyou-Iaidou (Seven Luminaries Sword-Draw Arts)!" In what seemed to be one split-second flash draw, Tsukuyomi slashed seven times in quick succession, each slash marked with a different colored arc. The color of each arc represented the days of the week in traditional Japanese.

Musashi managed to dodge the first slash (_nichiyobi – _Sun day) and block the second one (_getsuyobi – _Moon day) but received the next five slashes full on (_kayobi, suiyobi, mokuyobi, kin'yobi, doyobi – _fire day, water day, wood day, gold day and earth day respectively) and was thrown far across the Nightmare Zone. The Persona didn't seem to be wounded by the attack, but didn't get back up again.

Kyoji was also knocked down onto the floor Shibuya's finshing move; he held his chest in pain and recalled his Persona in defeat before staggering back onto his feet. Shibuya recalled his Persona too, and helped Kyoji in getting back up.

"You're strong. I respect that." Kyoji complimented. Shibuya grinned, "Heh, you too Sempai!" The older student smiled, but said nothing in retort. Both guys stood facing each other before bowing ceremoniously to each other.

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Wang Soi Feng and Ai Si Ying got back safely from their New York excursion. Both however, seemed to have grown apart from each other, as Wang had been spending most of his time in the library doing researches on the Nightmare Zone and spent less time with his friends or Ai.

She knew that their relationship is nothing more than close friends and fellow Persona-users, but she was really hoping that he would at least spend some time with her instead of being cooped up in the library.

On the flip side though, she had been thinking a lot about the Persona-user that she and Wang met at the Statue of Liberty and found herself wondering the possibility of the presence of other Persona-users around the world. It was during one of her usual day-dream sessions that her phone went off again, signaling another Nightmare Zone.

She looked at the alarm and thought of Wang. She immediately composed a mail but instead of sending it to Wang, she sent it to Trance, telling him to join her at the Nightmare Zone immediately.

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It was the fifth night after Shibuya's departure and there was no indication that he is going to come back. Every night Lyla sat on her bed, wishing that Shibuya would be coming through the Nightmare Zone in the Academy's hall and would join them in class tomorrow. Even tonight, she sat hugging her pillow thinking of him…

Tonight was yet another sleepless night for Mellissa. She left her empty house four nights earlier to study in the Beaux-Evangel Girl's Academy as an exchange student before later being transferred here officially. She learned some quick French too and within the four days was able to get into conversations, although she's still more comfortable speaking English with the other students.

It took Lyla quite a while, but she finally realized that her phone was vibrating softly in the pocket of her pajamas. She checked it and saw that the red dot was in France again this time.

"Ly!" Mellissa whispered from without of Lyla's bed curtains. Lyla quickly jumped out of bed, and put on her school uniform before joining Mellissa, who was running quickly towards the Academy main building.

The Academy entrance hall had once again been transformed into a Nightmare Zone, which was indicated by the bloodstains that had mysteriously appeared on the marble walls. Mellissa and Lyla rushed into the hall, their hand on their phones and ready to summon their Personas whenever needed.

"There's nothing here…" Lyla said, scanning the hall. There was clearly no sign of any damage to the hall, though this area had been confirmed to have been transformed into a Nightmare Zone.

"We shouldn't be too sure yet," Mellissa said matter-of-factly. "The last time we were here the Nightmare Zone reached up to the other floors; we shouldn't make any decisions unless we've seen the rest of the floors."

"Or maybe if I can…" Lyla whispered to herself and held out her phone. "Diana!" she shouted softly, and the hunting goddess Persona took form in front of her. The Persona bent over and touched the ground lightly, tracking for nearby enemies.

"There's one…" Lyla whispered; her eyes closed to try to focus on the faint presence she had detected earlier. "It's on the roof! And it's flying!" she said finally, before turning to Mellissa who nodded in a silent agreement. Together they ran up the marble staircase up towards the roof of the school building.

On the third floor, however, they heard a noise from along the corridor. It sounded like people, but Mellissa summoned her Persona Gefjun anyways, just in case.

"Humans, three of them." Lyla confirmed through Diana's power. "They're heading this way!" She warned. Both she and Mellissa took out their phones, ready for anything to come.

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Wang, Ai and Trance had just met up earlier in the Nightmare Zone and started exploring the place a little when suddenly a lightning bolt shot through the air and missed Trance by a hair's breadth.

"What in the world!" Trance jumped, his hoodie was slightly singed by the lightning bolt. He quickly pulled out his phone, as did Wang and Ai, who was just as surprised by the ambush.

"Anansi!" "Sui Ren!" "Areong Jong!"

The three Personas appeared in front of their respective users, ready for a fight. They looked up and saw two female Persona-users and their Personas. They were quite surprised by the three Personas, but quickly got back to fighting form.

Wang looked Trance who nodded in return. Sui Ren and Anansi both took vanguard against the two enemy Personas, while Areong Jong stayed in the middle of the formation. The two Persona-users weren't too bad either as their Personas quickly got out of the way of the charge, minding to stay out of Sui Ren's iron ball reach.

The masked female priestess Persona which had shot the lightning bolt at Trance turned and fired smaller, but quicker shots of electricity that was easily parried by Areong Jong, who had put up a wall of water. Areong Jong countered with a whip-like water attack, which was nimbly dodged by the enemy Persona. Both magic-using Persona-users looked at each other, each clearly impressed by the skill of the other.

The huntress Persona shot a quick volley of arrows at Anansi, but the arrow shaft lack the sharpness to penetrate the spider's thick hide. The spider Persona jumped on the stairs to catch up to huntress Persona, who was quickly putting on distance against the spider. Anasi fired a wind vortex bullet at the running huntress Persona, only to have it countered by a similar attack by the Persona who fired a wind element-enhanced arrow against the attack.

The two wind attack collided dead center between the two Personas. Anansi fired more of the vortex shots, which forced the huntress Persona to jump and dodge them. Trance could see the female Persona-user grimacing to see her Persona being driven into a corner like that. Anansi stopped his chase however as a red human-shaped being cast a shadow behind the huntress Persona.

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At such a distance, there was no hope for Diana to dodge the coming attack. The red armored warrior Persona had effectively got behind without her detection, and now Lyla is going to pay the price for her lack of attention. Lyla closed her eyes, preparing for the pain of being bludgeoned by an iron ball.

She waited for a few seconds, but the pain never came. Instead there was a loud clanging noise of metal hitting metal, and then the sound of something heavy crashing into the ground.

She opened her eyes again, and saw a familiar blue robed samurai Persona standing over the red armored Persona, katana in hand. She quickly turned and found the face she had long dreamt of. Before she even knew it, she shouted out his name. "Shibuya!"

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Shibuya realized Lyla calling out to him, and the two other Persona-users are looking at him obviously surprised by his sudden appearance. He saw Mellissa's Persona Gefjun locked in combat with the Korean swordswoman Persona, and the two male Persona-users who were fighting Lyla earlier talking to something amongst themselves. Apparently finally reaching an agreement, the spider-like Persona and red-armored Persona jumped up towards Shibuya's blue clothed Persona.

Shibuya's eyes blazed a furious blue. Tsukuyomi appeared above him, holding his katana high over his head.

"STOP IT!!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, as Tsukuyomi brought down the katana. The slash released a large amount of energy in one bright flash of light and split the battleground staircase into two. The attack seemed to have successfully knocked some sense into the five combatants, whom all stopped their battles dead in their tracks.

"Thank you." He sighed, though he made none of the other Persona-users heard him. He began descending the stairs looking at each of the Persona-users in turn. "The Shadow on the roof had already been dealt with."

"Wait, you did it on your own?" asked the African-American Persona-user, looking a mix of anger and disbelief and a trace of awe. The other two users, who Shibuya suspected to be Chinese, looked at him in disbelief.

"Of course." Shibuya said confidently. Still the look of doubt crosses the face of the other Persona-users, including Lyla and Mellisa. "It's up to you to believe me or not. But I think the real dumbasses around here are the five of you."

All five Persona-users are looking at him angrily now. Even Lyla looked angry at the remark. "I mean," he tried to explain. "What is the point of being given the power of the Persona is all you guys wanna do is beat the crap out of other Persona-users, right?"

"Hold yer horses, boy." The African-American spoke up again. He was quiet for a while before pointing at Shibuya. "First things first, who in the world are YOU?!"

"I'm Shibuya Hiruma, a Persona-user from Japan," Shibuya introduced himself calmly. "Nice to meet you."

The African-American rolled his eyes. "Japanese, huh? Well then, I'm Trance."

"Wait, since when are we on good terms with him?!" the Chinese guy retorted against Trance. However, Trance just shrugged it and told him. "This guy's right. Why in hell are we fighting each other? We're all Persona-users for Pete's sake!" To prove his point, Trance looked at the Mellissa and Lyla and shouted. "Hey! No grudges, okay?!"

"Trance…" the Chinese girl said, holding her head. "My name's Ai Si Ying, you all can call me Ai."

"What?! Not you too!" the Chinese guy shouted, clearly furious. He looked back and forth between Ai and Trance, before looking angrily at Shibuya.

"Well, since everyone's finally talking and not fighting I guess I'll jump in the bandwagon as well…" Mellissa said smiling at Ai and Trance. "My name is Mellissa Belle, and this is Lyla Jean Guelle!" She said cheerily, and gestured to Lyla who waved happily at Trance and Ai.

Shibuya smiled as Trance, Ai, Mellissa and Lyla started to talk and getting to know each other. He looked at the Chinese guy, who was torn between his own principles and the path chosen by his friends. He struggled to find words for a while before spitefully saying. "I…I'm Wang Soi Feng, happy?!"

The six Persona-users are now converged. That's more than what Shibuya could ask for, maybe now they'll stand a fighting chance…. Against the horrors that would test them to their limit. In Shibuya's heart his silent resolution resounded, unheard by anyone. As he thought about it, he had to fight back the tears that had started forming in his eyes again…

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_Ten chapters! I want to thank all those who had been reading this fic, I thank you_ s_oooo much! And more so to those who had been reviewing and rooting me on all these times, thank you again! Please, please do review and help me improve this story in any way you can!_

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_Lyla: Shibuya, did you cry?_

_Shibuya: No (wipes tear)… No way, I'M crying...  
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_Trance: Dude, you were crying. Everyone can see that..._

_Shibuya: No, I'm NOT crying, get it?!  
_

_Mellissa: Is something wrong, Shibuya?_

_Shibuya: No… It's just… I've made up my mind… My resolution to fight, I'll have to be stronger! Next time on Persona: One World, "The Chaos pt 1", a battle that sparked my fierce resolution! Let's go Kinomura-sempai!!_

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	11. Chronicle Eleven: The Chaospart 1

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not in any way own the Persona series or the characters in the series. However, I do own this story and all of the characters I introduced in the story except for Kyoji Kinomura, Akira and Akimi Kuroyama, who is created by a reader, Minako the Dragon Maiden of DW._

Persona: One World

Chronicle Eleven: The Chaos -part 1-

_A little explanation about the time line: This chapter takes place after the battle between Kyoji and Shibuya, but before the six protagonist Persona-users met up in the Beaux-Evangel Academy. The battle took place the same day after Shibuya left Beaux-Evangel after meeting up with Mitsuru, and the meeting of the six took place five nights after. So this chapter is what happens between the two incidents._

_Author's notes: I'm sorry for the verrryyy late posting!!! I was attending (or practically dragged to my country's National Service Training Program (PLKN)… So, I'm very sorry!!_

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"Welcome back, Shibuya Hiruma."

Igor's creepy voice quickly pulled Shibuya's consciousness into the Velvet Room. Once again he was seated on the same chair as before and faced Igor from across the same small coffee table. Something was different though, tonight, as there was another guy in the small room. He was a looked no older than Shibuya in age, but was clearly wiser and more matured than Shibuya could ever be.

"Who…?" Shibuya wanted to ask, but Igor lifted a finger, signaling him to be quiet.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Igor said, indicating the young man. He stepped forward, out of the shadow of the room that was cast upon him earlier. Shibuya could see him clearly now, he has dark blue hair that was fashioned in a way that it obscured part of his face. He was wearing a school uniform, which Shibuya instantly recognized of the prestigious Gekkoukan High School, complete with the dark blue blazer. He had a red armband on his left arm, and seemingly having a gun on him.

"We don't have time for that, Igor." He said simply, somehow his voice was distant, but had a powerful effect at the same time. "'It' is going to awaken soon, and something that even I have not foreseen had happened."

The Blue Haired Young Man turned from Igor to Shibuya. "Shibuya Hiruma," He seemed to weigh his words carefully before finally saying it with sadness filled eyes. "It is cruel fate that had dragged you into the world of Shadows, and the same hands of fate had as well given you the power of the Persona."

"The path from here on will be more treacherous, and the trials that await you would be painful." He said, "The Dual-Faced Monstrosity had once again aroused to break my Grand Seal and release the very personification of Death, Nyx. However this time, its endeavor would not be undertaken alone, as it had enlisted the help of the Crawling Chaos, which is as twisted a being as the Monstrosity itself."

"Wait, you're saying that there's some kind of monster that's working with another monster to release the mother of all monsters?" Shibuya tried to joke, trying to grasp the situation.

"That is correct, in simple terms." The Blue Haired Young Man said. He turned his head away from Shibuya as if looking at something in a distance. "I'm afraid that I couldn't stay here much longer, as I must be there personally to reinforce the Seal. "Farewell and good luck Shibuya Hiruma…"

Before Shibuya could ask him even one more question, the Blue Haired Young Man stepped back into the shadows and disappeared from view.

"I guess it is time for you to go back as well," Igor said, and with one flick of his hand Shibuya felt himself drifting back into a deep sleep.

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Shibuya woke up the next morning drenched in cold sweat. He remembered that he went home and fell asleep straight away after his battle against Kyoji Kinomura-sempai, and then was summoned to the Velvet Room.

Shibuya was back in his classroom in Shirayuki High the next morning. Most of his classmates didn't take notice of his last few days of absence, but went on as if he was there the entire time. Even Souma greeted him normally without any inquiries on his absence.

A few days after his return to school, Shibuya was in for a surprise, as Kyoji-sempai was waiting in front of the school gate for him after school.

"Hey, you've got some free time later?" he asked Shibuya, who nodded. He was worried in the first place, seeing Kyoji.

"Good," Kyoji said, turning his back to Shibuya before walking away. "Same place, midnight."

Shibuya watched as Kyoji walked off as some of the other students from his school started whispering loudly behind him. He didn't give it a damn though, as he wondered what it was that is so important for Kyoji to come and wait for him at school.

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Shibuya was dressed in his dark blue jacket and jeans that night, and walked coolly towards the old abandoned shop house. Kyoji was waiting for him there, donning a long brown coat.

"I see you're the punctual kinda guy," Kyoji commented, but didn't laugh. Shibuya looked at him, and saw that he was tensed all over. They waited in silence for a few seconds as their surrounding slowly morphed into the now familiar Nightmare Zone.

"So, what is it?" Shibuya asked, his hand reaching for his phone. If it was a fight that Kyoji wanted, he's gonna get it. Much to Shibuya's surprise, Kyoji didn't draw his phone, but beckoned him at the surrounding.

"Can't you see it? The difference?" Kyoji asked. To Shibuya the question didn't make any sense; that is until something in his brain clicked and realization (finally) got to him. He looked around, and saw that the entire stretch of road along the old shopping district had turned into a Nightmare Zone.

"It has expanded?" Shibuya looked around; surely the whole stretch of the road is now a Nightmare Zone. "Hey, Kinomura-sempai! What the heck is gong on here?"

He didn't answer to Shibuya's question, but looked warily like a watchdog on duty at one end of the street. Curious, Shibuya looked at the same general direction but saw nothing in the darkened street.

Suddenly, in a lightning-quick movement, Kyoji pulled out his phone out of his pocket and shouted out. "MUSASHI!"

The incoming attack was either so fast that Shibuya didn't have the time to perceive it or it was camouflaged in the darkness of night that it evaded vision. Either way, Kyoji's gray-silver clad samurai Persona appeared just in time to draw his katana against the attack. The clang of metal against metal was heard but Shibuya only saw a flash of the enemy's weapon before it retreated into the darkness again.

There was another flash of the metal blade of the enemy's weapon only this time Kyoji's Persona Musashi was not able to block the attack in time, which was this time aimed at Musashi's heart. He did manage to turn his body just enough to make the blade miss its intended target and instead grazed his shoulder.

In effect of the damage inflicted upon his Persona, bright red liquid began dripping from underneath Kyoji's left sleeve, his blood staining the roadside.

"Kinomura-sempai!" Shibuya shouted and reached for his phone as well, but he stopped his actions instinctively when a thin piece of sharpened metal was put against his neck. "I wouldn't do that if I were you…" said a female voice from behind Shibuya.

"You're doing as good as ever, eh Kyoji?" said a male's voice from the end of the street Kyoji was glaring at. Slowly, a male figure appeared. He had short blue hair, and was wearing a black leather jacket, which was unzipped showing the white collarless shirt underneath. He had a silver goggle hanging from his neck and was wearing black colorless gloves. A silver chain hung from his brown khaki trousers, completing his gangster image.

"Akira… Kuroyama…" Kyoji said through gritted teeth, his hand was clutched on his injured shoulder and the other on his phone. There was a pool of blood now, which was accumulated from the blood that steadily dripped from Kyoji's arm.

"Ah," Akira said, finally noticing Kyoji's injury. "Injured by my ambush? You must be getting dull, Kyoji-kun…"

Kyoji winced but said nothing. Akiya looked at Shibuya and shouted, "Akimi! Heal this guy, will ya? I don't want to fight a half-limping man!"

Shibuya looked at him, and realized that he was talking to whoever it was that is holding the blade against his neck.

"Okay, onii-san!" said the voice cheerily. The darkness parted slightly, and a slim girl with short sapphire blue hair wearing Shibuya's high school uniform appeared from within it.

Her Persona followed her closely and though she had moved away from Shibuya, the blade had not yet been removed from Shibuya's neck. Shibuya turned his head just a bit, trying hard to conceal his movements, and saw many (by many I mean many…) soldiers dressed in traditional Japanese armor standing behind the girl's Persona.

"Nouhime," She whispered. The female Persona, who was wearing a flowing pitch black kimono, descended upon Kyoji. The Persona put a hand on his injured shoulder, which then radiated a pitch black aura. Kyoji winced painfully, but the bleeding seemed to have instantly stopped and his arm was as good as new.

Kyoji stood up again, as so did his Persona Musashi Miyamoto. Akira's smile widened seeing Kyoji back at his fittest form. He pulled out his phone, which was a sliding model, and said with a smug look on his face, "Appear, Sasaki Kojiro!"

The jacket that Akira wore started fluttering as the dark light that marked the arrival of the Persona kicked up a strong spiral of energy around the User. The dark light seemed to pull the Persona from within Akira. The Persona was a pale skinned samurai who wore a longer black version of the samurai attire and carried a long katana by its side. He has sleek black hair, which was tied back in a high ponytail. His face was expressionless, except for a kind of stony sadist craze that remains carved onto his face.

The black clothed samurai Persona got into stance, as did Kyoji's Musashi.

"We're already done with this, Akira!" Kyoji said loudly. Akira however just laughed at his face. "Done? The last time was just a fluke, Kyoji!"

"You think you're gonna get me this time?" He shouted with a maniacal look on his face. "Think again! And think hard! Cause this time you're going DOWN!!"

Without any warning, Sasaki rushed at Musashi with katana held high. Musashi parried the attack with one sword, and swung the other at the enemy. Sasaki jumped back again, preparing for another attack. Musashi took this chance to strike up an offensive, forcing Sasaki to block the two swords brought down on him with one.

"Sasaki Kojiro! Shadow Slicer!" Akira shouted, which resulted in Sasaki melding into the darkness of the night. Musashi's blade slashed the formless darkness, but caused no physical damage to the enemy Persona.

Suddenly, without a sound, Sasaki's katana's blade materialized out of the darkness behind Musashi. The blade delivered multiple quick slashes at Musashi which he was unable to block. The blade sliced mercilessly on Musashi's body, which left Musashi a bloody heap on the floor.

Blood splattered all around Kyoji as he experienced the same wounds his Persona received. Not a sound escaped him however, even as he fell to his knees resultant of the attack. Kyoji laughed while Sasaki rematerialized behind him. "Do you see it now? You're on your knees, Kyoji! On your knees! In front of me! Where's all your greatness and pride now, you loser?!"

Kyoji got back up, though with great difficulty. Musashi picked up his swords again and got back into a fighter's pose.

"Kinomura-sempai!" Shibuya shouted, but Akimi Kuroyama's Persona Nouhime's soldiers surrounded him, all having their sword and spears and other weapons pointing at him. "Nii-san? What do I do with this one?" asked the 'seemingly' innocent girl. Kyoji didn't even turn to his sister but said with his laugh, "Do as you wish, Akimi!"

Akimi turned back to Shibuya and said sadly, "Sorry, sempai…" Her Persona gave one lazy note from her silver flute and all the soldiers lunged at Shibuya.

Shibuya closed his eyes and summoned all the energy he could muster as he shouted, "TSUKUYOMI!!!" the summoning of the light blue samurai Persona was accompanied with a large burst of energy that tore through the ranks of Nouhime's soldiers. The samurai stood behind Shibuya, whose eyes were filled with the same blue light as the one Tsukuyomi emerged from, ready to face any of those puppet soldiers that dare to approach him. Akimi was surprised by the sudden appearance of the samurai Persona that she lost grip of her phone.

"Onii-san! He… he's too strong!" she cried to her brother. She looked genuinely scared, and was trembling from head to toe. Akira was however was locked in combat with Kyoji, ignored his sister's cries. Out of fear, she fell to the ground, crying like a small child. Nouhime disappeared as well as a result of Akimi loss of her will to fight.

"Urgh… that's enough then…" sighed Shibuya. Though the turn of events was quite perplexing, he was glad that he didn't have to fight a Persona-user and more importantly, fight a girl. The curious glow in his eyes had dissipated as well, causing him to plop down onto the ground in fatigue.

Shibuya wasn't going to let Kyoji face that madman alone either, so he got back to his feet, though with great difficulty. He picked up his phone again, but felt a tug on his sleeve. Akimi was holding him back, and her eyes were filled with terror.

"Please, don't…" she begged. Her voice cracked as she sobbed between her words. "If you disturb onii-san… he'll… he'll get angry and use…th…that… power…"

"That power?"

The battle between Kyoji's Musashi and Akira's Sasaki had reached fever pitch. Both combatants were moving so quickly that their swords were only flashes of silver against the dark night. Even so, Kyoji looked much worse for wear, as the dark samurai had the advantage over the darker surrounding to launch a Shadow Slicer attack.

"Isn't this fun, Kyoji?!" Akira shouted. Kyoji kept his silence, but focused still on the fighting. Musashi was pushed hard to dodge most of Sasaki's furious Shadow Slicer attacks, which seems to appear out of every corner imaginable. "There!" Kyoji shouted suddenly, as Sasaki was just rematerializing for another Shadow Slicer. Musashi spun around quickly and slashed Sasaki across the chest.

Blood splattered from Akira's newly opened wound. The wound wasn't deep, nor was it fatal, but it was enough to enrage Akira near to the boiling point. "Darn it… Damn you… Kyoji!!" he shouted. Sasaki rushed at Musashi again, this time the gray-clad samurai Persona easily flicked the katana out of Sasaki's hand.

"You've lost, Akira." Kyoji said, standing over Akira, who was kneeling in front of him. Akira hissed angrily as he pressed against his would, trying to stem the bleeding.

"Don't give me that crap…" Akira whispered. The dark winds kicked up again; this time more viciously that it levitated Akira a few inches off the ground. The Persona Sasaki Kojiro was caught in the vortex as well and was fully engulfed in the dark light.

"Let me show you…" Akira said through gritted teeth. He opened his eyes again, which are now full black. "… My true powers!"

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_I would first like to apologize to Minako the Dragon Warrior of DW for not putting your character Akimi as the profile you've sent me… You see I wrote this right after getting her brother's profile (whom the name I changed to Akira, another big sorry!!) so she's already in before the profile was sent in! Sorry!_

_The other characters I've received so far will be introduced in the coming few chapters, promise! Don't worry; the next few introduced characters will play quite a significant role in my story (especially the villains!)_

_Well that's it for now! I hope you'll all review my stories, it feels good to have someone put in a review even a short one and it gives a boost for me to continue writing, so… please and thank you!!!  
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_Shibuya: What is this overwhelming darkness?! It swallowed even the light of the Personas!_

_Kyoji: This is bad! Run!_

_Akira: Hahahaha!!! There's no where to run! KYOJI!!!_

_Shibuya: Damn, I… is this his true power?! Next time on Persona: One World, "The Chaos pt 2", standing up against the unrelenting force of darkness! Is there even a glimmer of hope in this hopeless battle?!_

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	12. Chronicle Twelve: The Chaos part2

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: What do I own? This story. The original Persona series, no. What belongs to my readers? Kyoji Kinomura, Akira and Akimi Kuroyama which are the creations of Minako the Dragon Maiden of DW._

Persona: One World

Chronicle Twelve: The Chaos –part 2-

_A little explanation about the time line: This chapter takes place after the battle between Kyoji and Shibuya, but before the six protagonist Persona-users met up in the Beaux-Evangel Academy. The battle took place the same day after Shibuya left Beaux-Evangel after meeting up with Mitsuru Kirijo, and the meeting of the six took place five nights after. So this chapter is what happens between the two incidents_

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The dark spiral around Akiya seemed to pick up momentum, as it now rages tremendously over the entire Nightmare Zone. Shibuya Hiruma, Kyoji Kinomura and Akimi Kuroyama were caught in the storm, and were struggling to keep themselves grounded.

"Let me show you…. My true powers!" Akira shouted over the raging storm. "Chaos!! PERSONA!!!" The storm subsided, but at the same time it released a large shockwave of energy that threw Shibuya, Kyoji and Akimi against nearby walls.

Behind Akiya now, stood Sasaki, or what was the Persona Sasaki Kojiro. The storm of dark energy a while seemed to have morphed the samurai into something darker, more sinister than the being that it was. The samurai had sprouted black demonic wings and his right hand had fused with his katana while the left morphed into an enormous claw. His legs are no longer human, but rather became reversely jointed and clawed like those of a beast.

Something had also happened to Akira. He now no longer cares about the previous injury he suffered, and his face now shows an expression of pure insanity. His grin is now inhuman, and his eyes bulged like those of a sadist murderer.

"Akira… what have you become?" Kyoji whispered to himself. Musashi was in front of him, though it was clear that his User was unsure of how to face such an evil being.

"Heheh…Feast your eyes, losers!!!… My Chaos Persona!!!… Wahahaha!!!!" Akira said between maniacal fits of laughter. He seemed to have lost all his senses as his body convulses violently as he speaks. "My… hehe… Ken-no-Akuma!"

At the mention of his name, Akira's Chaos Persona struck. Even for a beast its size, it moves with unbelievable speed and was in Kyoji's face before he could even react.

"Tsukuyomi!" The light blue samurai Persona appeared between the demon and Kyoji, his sword parrying the Chaos Persona's sword arm.

"Shibuya!" Kyoji exclaimed. Tsukuyomi's sudden appearance seemed to have snapped Kyoji out of his shocked state. Musashi rushed forth to assist Tsukuyomi, but Ken-no-Akuma knocked them both away with a swipe of his claw-arm.

"Heee…It's no use… You'll all die here!!" Akira laughed. Ken-no-Akuma chased after Tsukuyomi who was flying through the air. It brought its sword-arm up, ready to cleave the blue robed samurai Persona in half.

"Damn, Getsu-ei!!" Shibuya shouted. His Persona did a mid-air flip and used the momentum of the spin to fire a crescent-shaped shockwave of light-blue energy at the demon. The beam cleanly cut the Chaos Persona's sword arm, which caused the demon to relent its attack, but only for a second. Shibuya hadn't even got time recover when the demon extended and swung its claw-arm downwards, smashing Tsukuyomi into the ground.

The attack knocked the wind out of Shibuya, who felt his vision blur as a result of the attack. Through blurred vision, Shibuya could make out that the demon had reattached its severed sword arm which showed no signs of suffering any significant damage.

"HAHA!! One down!... One more to go!!" Akira laughed. He went after Kyoji next, whose Persona Musashi Miyamoto fought move for move against the demon. The damage he had received earlier seemed to hinder his movements though, and was easily overpowered by a mighty swipe of the demon's claw.

"Damn… What the hell is that…?" Kyoji gasped for air as Musashi disappeared back into him.

"Over already?...What a disappointment…hehehehe…" Akira laughed.

"Onii-san, that's enough! Stop all this!" Akimi shouted at her crazed brother. Akira seemed to just realize that she was there and turned his head 180 degrees towards her. Akimi shrieked and closed her mouth seeing the gruesome sight.

"Another … pest?" He said, smiling his maniacal grin. His gaze seemed to have frozen Akimi who was unable to move a muscle as the Ken-no-Akuma flew straight at her, claw extended forward. The claw was about to clobber on her skull when her phone's screen glowed, revealing the Empress Arcana. The Persona Nouhime appeared from within Akimi's body, blocking the attack.

Though she was able to minimize any direct physical damage on her user, Nouhime was unable to bear the force of the attack and disappeared. Akimi passed out as well.

"So… whose up next?!" Akira shouted over the three fallen Persona-users. He looked down upon all of them, a grin of satisfaction wide across his face. Ken-no-Akuma stood behind him, reveling in their victory.

_Damn it, this is not yet my time to…_Slowly, Shibuya got back on his feet. He's barely able to stand straight, but yet held his phone tightly in his hand. "Tsu… ku…" Akira saw this, and his grin grew wider. Ken-no-Akuma flew straight at Shibuya, its claw reaching out to grab him by the throat.

"Musashi!" Kyoji's voice was heard over the darkness. The gray-clad samurai slammed his shoulder into the demon, knocking them both into the ground. Kyoji was back on his feet, and stood facing Akira. "I'm your opponent Akira!" he shouted.

Akira seemed amused for a second, before laughing again. "I don't care who you are! I'll kill all off you… hahaaa!!" Ken-no-Akuma started fighting Musashi again, who was easily overpowered by the demon.

"Take the girl and go." Kyoji said softly that only Shibuya was able to hear him. "No way, I'm not leaving you here with that monster!" Shibuya protested, but Kyoji now grabbed him by his jacket's collar and shouted. "This is no time to be a hero! If you don't go, we'll all die! Go and find a way to beat this kind of enemy, I'm sure this isn't the only one we're ever going to face, so you need to know how to beat this kind of thing!"

With that Kyoji pushed Shibuya near the unconscious Akimi. "I'll take care of things here." He said, smiling weakly. "Musashi, Boufuken!" At that shout, Musashi broke off from fighting Ken-no-Akuma and launched his signature move. He summoned the six astral swords around him and generated a large tornado, which swept both Shibuya and Akimi off the ground.

"KYOJI!!!" Shibuya shouted as the winds carried him towards the shop house entrance, which was connected to other Nightmare Zones, away from the fighting. Before losing his sight upon Kyoji however, Shibuya saw an honest smile forming on his face.

"Live on, Shibuya."

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Tears wouldn't stop flowing from Shibuya's eyes as he got to his knees after being shot-putted out from the Nightmare Zone in Harajuku. "Kinomura-sempai…." His voice trembled greatly as he recalls Kyoji's last words to him.

_Live on…._ Shibuya thought for a second, and his mind became clear again. He was not going to sit here crying, for he was entrusted a mission by Kyoji. Quickly he wiped the tears off his face and put on a determined face. He'll live on, and find the answer to beating the Chaos Personas.

Now completely recovered from his ordeal, Shibuya started to take notice of the surrounding. "This is…" he mumbled. He recognized the place of course, as he had only been here five nights before. Surely the landscape and architecture of the place he's standing on is still fresh in his memories. "Beaux-Evangel?"

From what he could see, he's on the roof. And by the time of day he was in which is now midnight, he must have either traveled through time via the Nightmare Zone entrance or passed out really long. He also realized that the girl Akimi Kuroyama was still lying unconscious on the floor nearby, but now she seemed to be sleeping soundly.

Looking at her reminded Shibuya of her brother Akira, and his Chaos Persona as well as what she had warned him earlier. _That power_… did she mean the Chaos Persona? Does that mean that the Chaos Persona was a power that both she and her brother had known all about?

His train of thought was disrupted when a loud swooshing sound was heard from above him. He didn't have to look up, as he had already felt the presence of the Shadow as soon as he heard the sound. The gigantic bird like Shadow was circling over his head, finding a perfect opportunity to strike.

Shibuya hadn't moved an inch, but let the bird Shadow to continue to circle him. He slowed down his breathing, looking deep into the se of his soul. After a few rounds around the static Shibuya, the Shadow finally dived. This was what Shibuya was waiting for. He pulled out his phone, at the same time shouting. "Tsukuyomi!"

The samurai Persona emerged in the same burst of energy as it did against Akimi's Nouhime; the shockwave hit and stunned the Shadow. Tsukuyomi took the advantage generated by his summoning to rush the Shadow, cleaving it to half in one blow. Shibuya had just stood still, watching his victory with glowing sea blue eyes.

Seeing that the Shadow was effectively defeated, Tsukuyomi disappeared back into Shibuya's body. At the same time the glow in Shibuya's eyes faded and his eyes reverted to its original color. The sudden down-surge in power caused Shibuya to lose balance but this time he was able to keep himself straight on his feet.

"Now that that's settled…" Shibuya looked at his phone; the red dot on Beaux-Evangel Academy had turned blue, indicating the absence of Shadows in the immediate area. Satisfied, he stowed the phone back into his jacket pocket.

He wasn't able to savor the moment of peace though as a sonic explosion shook the building. "Shadows? No this is…" realization suddenly struck him. He is not alone in this fight…

"Hey, wait for me okay?" he said to the unconscious Akimi, before opening the door that led downstairs. He could hear the sound of the Personas fighting each other downstairs._ Watch me, Kinomura-sempai_, Shibuya told himself._ We'll get those Chaos Personas… I won't let another Persona-user fall before them again!_

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_Thank you for reading my story so far! This is the end of the two-part flashback (though this part is kinda short...) of what sparked Shibuya's resolve and we will be returning to the original storyline in the next chapter. Hope you all read and review!_

_One more thing, to my dear reader Bit-Basketcase, I welcome any sort of characters but no more Japanese, please! I have too many people wanting their characters to be Japanese as well!_

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_Shibuya: Am I forgetting something?_

_Lyla : Shibuya!(Shocked, then looking very sad) Who is that girl?_

_Shibuya: Ah, right! Akimi!_

_Lyla: Akimi…is she…? _

_Shibuya: We need to get her some medical attention, she might have the info about the enemy we're about to face! Next time on Persona: One World, "Unsettling Truths" When it all comes to light, our battle will begin!_

_Lyla:… Shibuya…I…_

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	13. Chronicle Thirteen: Unsettling Truths

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series or any characters associated in this. I own this storyline, which is purely fictional and has nothing to do with real life people, organizations or theories. Any similarities are coincidences and are unintentional._

Persona: One World

Chronicle Thirteen: Unsettling Truths

_Beaux-Evangel Girl's Academy; Morning_,

Shibuya, Mellissa, Lyla, Wang, Ai, Trance and Headmistress Mitsuru Kirijo had all gathered around Akimi's bed first thing in the morning after they had brought her the infirmary last night with some help from the Headmistress. The one who had told them to bring her here in the first place was Shibuya, which at that mention caused the Headmistress to quickly spring into action, even during the dead of night.

"So, this girl could tell us about the Chaos Personas you spoke of?" Mitsuru enquired from Shibuya, who nodded as an answer.

"Dude, from what you've told us… That Chaos guy must be pretty rigged to take on three Persona-users at once and win without a scratch…" Trance said, scratching his own head. Shibuya had spent the rest of the night speaking to the other Persona-users about his battle against Akira, and the horrors of facing one of the Chaos Personas.

"…And that Kyoji…. Do you think he'll be okay?" Mellissa asked and regretted asking at once. Shibuya looked at her sadly, but the sadness quickly changed into a fierce determination. "I know he is!"

Akimi didn't wake up for the rest of the morning, so Lyla and Mellissa went to class as usual. Meanwhile, Shibuya, Wang, Trance and Ai gathered at the Headmistress's office to supposedly discuss about their battle preparations against the Chaos Personas, but instead it turned into a sleep fest, the Persona-users all falling asleep the instant they sat on the couches around the coffee table. Shibuya on the single-seater, while Wang, Ai and Trance on each others' shoulders on the sofa.

"Of course, kids would be kids…" Mitsuru murmured, smiling.

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During Biology, Lyla was partnered with Mellissa, so she took the chance to whisper as the professor instructed them to carry out the designated experiment (which was Mellissa's favorite; dissecting a frog…)

"Mel," Lyla whispered to Mellissa while the latter was applying chloroform onto the frog as Lyla held down, or rather squish the poor slimy frog. Mellissa wasn't really paying attention to her, so Lyla said now more loudly. "Mel!!"

"What?" Mellissa said irately, seeing that the frog wriggled when Lyla pressed too hard on it. Lyla firmed her grip upon the frog again and Mellissa continued her work. "It's… about Shibuya…" the shorter brunette said shyly, but that was enough to pique Mellissa's interest.

"Well, it's more about that Akimi girl…." Lyla's voice dropped again into a whisper as the two girls continued their work. Mellissa could see Lyla's saddened face though, even through the façade she put on in front of her other friends.

"Do you think… that Shibuya and Akimi are… you know?" Lyla's out-of-place shyness about the question made Mellissa look sharply at the smaller girl. "Say… Ly~"

"Do you have something towards Shibuya, eh Lyla?" Mellissa said, enjoying herself as Lyla's face turned from soft ivory white to a striking tomato red. "Do I sense a little crush story going on here?"

Lyla now put on an angry face. She laid the now unconscious frog on the table and held the scalpel menacingly in her hand. "Don't talk as if you don't like him, Mel! I knew how excited you were when you found out he's back!"

It was Mellissa's turn to turn scarlet now. "There was nothing to that!" Lyla grinned, and continued to dissect the midriff of the poor frog. "Well, about that Akimi girl…" Lyla wanted to pursue the topic but the passing teacher quieted her, and by then she was already too focused on her frog…

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Lyla disappeared after dinner that night. She went out to the outdoor gardens, taking a stroll under the cool moonlight.

"Huuhhh…." She let out a long sigh. She found it hard to keep her head straight these last few days, and suspected that a certain boy she had just met had a lot to do with it. The short brunette likes him; she herself knew that she does. The only problem is that this is her first time falling in love, as a result of living a sheltered life for most of her life.

_Does Shibuya even notice me? _She thought to herself. That thought stopped her in her tracks. Between her, Mellissa and Akimi, who is the one in his heart? Who is it that he truly loves?

"Ahhh! This is driving me nuts!" she screamed into the darkened sky. All and all she might has lost her mind already.

"…Lyla?" a familiar voice from behind shocked the living daylights out of the brunette, and upon inspection of the owner of the voice, she started to blush madly. Shibuya was walking casually towards her, seemingly enjoying the night's cooling breeze.

"The moon's full tonight…" he said when he was next to her. There was quite a large difference in height between the two, so Lyla looked down to avoid looking at his face. Shibuya smiled while made a ring around the silver moon with his fingers and whispered, "Tsukuyomi…"

"He's the god of the Moon in Shinto myths, so is your Persona Diana, the goddess of the Moon in Roman mythologies…" he thought for a while, before smiling at the blushing dame Lyla. "That makes us a pair, doesn't it?" he laughed.

Lyla said nothing, but inside she felt extremely happy. She hadn't noticed that connection before, but somehow it sorta made her feel happy.

Before she could say anything though, Shibuya put a hand in her shoulder. "The Headmistress actually told me to gather everyone in her office. It seems that Akimi had finally woken up."

The mention of Akimi saddened her a little, but nothing could bring down her lifted spirits as she made her merry way up to the Headmistress's office, with Shibuya accompanying her all the while...

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After gathering all six Persona-users in her office, the Headmistress led them to the infirmary where Akimi was up and having her meal. Akimi smiled and waved when she saw Shibuya, much to Lyla's annoyance.

"We're glad that you're up and about now, Kuroyama-san." Headmistress Mitsuru said, standing at the feet of the blue haired girl's bed. Akimi looked up to the red haired Headmistress and then to the Persona-users around her bed. "I bet you all want to hear about the Chaos Personas, right?"

Headmistress Mitsuru nodded on behalf of the group, who was anxious about what they were going to hear next…

"Alright then, what you're going to hear won't be pretty." She warned, her golden eyes flashing to show how serious she was on this matter.

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"_It was a couple of weeks ago… Akira-niisan was picking me after cram school on his motorcycle. He had some cuts and bruises on him which I suspected from a fight he got into earlier, but I ignored them as I knew Akira-niisan would get angry if I asked him about his fights he attended along with his biker gang… The Midnight Flame_

_His motorcycle wasn't in a very good shape either and not before long he realized that the oil tank was punctured and we ran out of petrol soon after. After a few minutes of cursing and kicking, he finally decided to push his bike all the way home and call up a friend of his tomorrow to fix the tank. I volunteered to help him push his bike, but he told me that there is no way in hell _

_I walked with him under the dark moonless sky, and we passed by the older part of the Harajuku area. There, a weird guy wearing a long black cloak stopped us. Impatient as always, Akira-niisan shouted at him to get out of the way, but the guy didn't budge. He, however, conjured up some Shadows which he sent after me and my brother._

_Brother fought his hardest but was unable to inflict any damage on the Shadows and soon we found ourselves completely overwhelmed by the Shadows. I was afraid, very afraid, but my brother kept calm and kept thinking. That was when the cloaked guy struck up his offer of power in exchange of loyalty to him. Akira-niisan thought about it for a while before agreeing to it without even consulting me about it._

"_You've made a good choice, young man." The guy said to Akira-niisan before turning to me with the same offer, but Akira-niisan stopped him. He said that he alone is enough, and the guy was not to lay a finger on me._

_The guy complied and continued saying that it was about time for him to grant Akira-niisan the promised power. His Persona, Sasaki Kojiro was awakened that night, along with his Chaos Persona, the Ken-no-Akuma._

_Though I wasn't able to see it, I could feel that the cloaked man was smiling triumphantly as Akira-niisan used his newfound power of destruction to defeat the Shadows._

_Since then, Akira-niisan was drunk on power. He fought against Shadows and other Persona-users alike every single night and would waste no time in mercilessly killing those weaker than him. He also had become a more violent person; he actively seeks fights and was fired from his job after punching his manager in the face._

_Then Kyoji Kinomura appeared. He was the first Persona-user to ever injure Akira-niisan in a fight and ever since losing to him Kyoji-niisan lost all sense. He trained to become stronger and learned to tap more into the power of his Chaos Persona._

_The day Akira-niisan tapped into the shadow powers of his Chaos Persona was the day my Persona awakened as well. Together we went around to any Nightmare Zones we could find for the sake of making ourselves stronger. Just for the day for Akira-niisan would face Kyoji-sempai again._

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"Those were the incidents that brought up to that night…" Akimi finished. The other Persona-users were caught up in their own thoughts now, each about the events revealed by Akimi.

"So, like, what the hell are the Chaos Personas? Are they, what, a Digivolution of our Personas?" Trance asked.

"It may be, as our Persona had experienced metamorphosis as well," Mitsuru commented, remembering her past experiences. "10 years ago, my Persona Penthesilea morphed into Artemisia. But that was after me and the S.E.E.S. were faced with so much disasters and we had all made a firm resolve and formed close bond with one another…"

"Actually, it is closer to what Trance-san had said. The Digivolution in the Digimon anime series is much closer to this." Akimi said. She then held up three fingers "There're three similarities. "First, it is activated by a strong stimulus. 'A Shadow, controlled by the ego becomes a Persona', but if a strong stimulus were to affect the ego it would trigger the Chaos Persona transformation."

Akimi put one of her fingers. "Secondly, it is not permanent. The Chaos Personas revert to their normal state after the battle is over." She put down another finger leaving her index finger up. "Lastly, like a Digivolution from an Ultimate to a Mega level Digimon, the new form is on an entirely different level of power when compared against those lower than it. That was why even with Kyoji-sempai and Shibuya-sempai joining forces was unable to even scratch Akira-niisan's Ken-no-Akuma."

"No way…" Mellissa whispered in fear. Her eyes were wide, and her face was pale. "Does that mean that in order to beat a Chaos Persona we must become one as well?"

"That was my guess."

"So," Wang spoke up. "You said that the Chaos Persona transformation is triggered by a strong stimulus. What is it?"

Akimi held herself and shuddered before answering, "Insanity."

"That's…" Wang looked down. He realized why the power was not widely used, as it drives its user mad in the process. "I guess that's out of the question then…"

"A Persona tainted by one's insanity gains so much power…" Trance said in a surprisingly no-nonsense manner. He seemed to be massaging his chin absentmindedly; his thoughts could be miles away. "If we are to fight fire with fire…"

All other Persona-users looked down, their thoughts not far away from the idea of achieving Chaos Persona status. Ai looked at their faces one by one, all of them was in deep thought.

"There must be another way!" Ai shouted. She looked at each of the other Persona-users who were all awakened from their daydream. "We won't succumb to insanity, but we'll find some other ways to beat those Chaos Personas!"

"Well said, Ai." Mitsuru pat the Chinese girl on the back. She then turned to the rest of the crew, who was getting pumped from Ai's earlier pep talk. Even Akimi smiled a little seeing the group's enthusiasm.

_Don't you think that you tell them plenty, Nouhime?_

Akimi heard the voice in her head and was lucky, as she jumped out of her bed just in time as a giant wolf storms in through the wall which was exactly behind her bed. The wolf was grey, and was marked on its face by many scars. On its back was a pale human figure, which seemed to be asleep. The wolf was huge, its entrance did not only destroy the infirmary wall, but also smashed open the infirmary ceiling which was also the next floor of the Academy building.

"Loki?!" Akimi shouted at the giant wolf. Shibuya saw that she looked pale and very, very scared. Instinctively, he reached for his phone. He saw the same movement from the other Persona-users as well.

"Is this one of those Chaos Personas as well?" Trance asked, looking straight at Akimi.

"Well observed," said a cold voice from within the wolf. The source of the voice then emerged from the wolf itself, revealing to be a fair Irish man in his 20's with red hair and green eyes. He wore a long brown trench coat with fur trimmings on the collar, as well as a pair of leather gloves. "Meet my Chaos Persona, Fenrir. And as our pretty little girl had mentioned, his original form was of the Norse Mythological god, Loki."

"What are you here for? If you want to take our friend Akimi you can just forget about it!" Ai said, bravely stepping in front of Akimi. She was joined by Wang, Mellissa and Lyla, whom all had their phones out and ready.

"Brave words, little girl." The Irish man smiled, amused. "And who do you think is going to stop me? Not you I think?" he laughed a crazy, maniacal laugh before sending Fenrir against Ai and the others.

"Areong Jong!" Ai reacted quickly to the attack, summoning her priestess-warrior Persona which raised a wall of water against the charging wolf. The barrier didn't stop the attack, but was enough to slow down the Chaos Persona to allow Ai, Wang, Lyla and Mellissa to get out of the way of the attack.

Fenrir overshot past them and crashed against the wall before flying out of the infirmary through the hole in the wall.

"We can't fight here," Mitsuru said calmly; she seemed unfazed by the Chaos Persona's ambush, but seemed to be anticipating it. "We have to get to the roof at least!" The group nodded, and together ran past the Irish man, who smiled a crazy grin which painfully reminded Shibuya of Akira. Their eyes met for a second, and a loathsome feeling quickly built up in Shibuya, who quickly looked away as he passed the guy.

_Kinomura-sempai… I'll take this one down for you!_

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_I want to take this opportunity to say a really big "Thank you" to all those who had been spending some of your time reading this story of mine. I really hope you all enjoyed it so far, and I would really want to know what everyone think about this story so please, please do put up a review!_

_Shibuya: AHHHHHHHH!!!! GUAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!_

_Headmistress Kirijo: Shibuya, get a hold of yourself!_

_Trance: Dude, you're… What in hell is THAT?!_

_Mellissa: No… Shibuya! Why does misfortune befall us one-by-one?! Next time on Persona: One World, "The Dark Side of the Moon". Will those fangs consume the last vestiges of light? Will all hope be lost in this darkness?! _

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	14. Chronicle 14: The Dark Side Of The Moon

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona Series or the characters associated with it. This story is written by me, Final-Freedom, thus is owned by me. Some of the characters; Akimi Kuroyama and Ryan McDonald, are characters which are created by my dear readers and therefore are theirs._

_Author's notes: Sorry, for the very late update.... I left this story's draft in my old computer before leaving for University of Malaya... so, now is that I (finally) got my hands on this again, the chapters will be coming up quicker... So please do forgive me, my dearest readers!!_

Persona: One World

Chronicle Fourteen: The Dark Side of the Moon

"No way…" Trance gasped the moment he threw open the door leading to the roof of the Academy building. There he was, the Irish man was there waiting for them. The rest of the group arrived seconds later and was equally surprised by the speed of which the Irish caught up to them…

"Nice to see all of you… again." Said the Irish man seeing Shibuya and the others finally arriving at the roof of the Beaux Evangel academy building. The Chaos Persona Fenrir stood obediently beside him. The man smiled his crazy grin again and licked his lips in a wolf-like manner. "Fenrir."

Fenrir howled before charging the group again, who all quickly scrambled out of the way of the attack. It skidded on the cement floor, before turning its blood-red eyes towards the group again.

"Tsukuyomi!" Shibuya shouted, sending his aqua blue samurai Persona at the wolf Chaos Persona. The wolf however, was quicker than the samurai, as it dodged Tsukuyomi's first strike and countered with a swipe of its claw. Fenrir's claw would have torn Tsukuyomi to shreds if it wasn't for Wang's crimson warrior Persona, Sui Ren, who threw his flaming iron ball into the wolf's side and sent the demonic wolf flying halfway across the rooftop.

"Focus, dammit!" Wang shouted at Shibuya, who was just about to thank him for his assistance and then opted to just nod irritatedly. Fenrir got back on its feet and again lunged at Tsukuyomi and Sui Ren. Both Personas dodged the attack but Fenrir's claw managed to graze the slower Sui Ren's stomach.

Wang held his own midriff in pain, which the white shirt he had on is now stained red with blood. "That son of a…" Sui Ren threw his flaming iron ball again, which this time missed as the wolf Chaos Persona leapt over the attack towards Sui Ren directly.

"GEFJUN!" "AREONG JONG!"

Both female Personas appeared in front of Sui Ren, a wall of water and lightning repelling the wolf, inches before it could rip the guts out of the red warrior Persona.

"ANANSI!" "DIANA!"

The spider and the female huntress Persona both fired their sonic shots at the wolf, both hitting it squarely on its forehead. Fenrir recoiled for a second, a chance which was not wasted by Shibuya. "Shichiyou-Iaidou!"

Tsukuyomi's slashes scored direct hits on the wolf resulting in a large explosion. "Yes!" Shibuya cheered, and he was joined in by the rest of his group. Their cheer however was short-lived as Fenrir reemerged from the cloud of dust apparently unscathed by the attack.

"What are you all cheering about?" the Irish man laughed. His laugh grew louder, not to mention completely psycho. "Show them the pain, Fenrir! Ragnarok's Cry!" The wolf threw back its head and howled. The howl was the loudest anyone had ever heard, and adding to that the howl summoned a stellar of large explosions which ripped across the entire rooftop.

Shibuya and the other Persona-users plus Akimi and Headmistress Kirijo was caught in the storm of explosions and laid defeated on the now destroyed rooftop. "Damn that son of a…" Trance gasped, his hooded sweater now torn and ripped in many places. The rest of the group was in a similar condition, all groaning in pain as they tried to get back up on their feet.

"Heh," the Irish smirked, standing on the only spot which was untouched by the explosions. He swept the dust off his coat and walked over to Lyla who was lying face down at his feet. Fenrir was by the Irish's side now, as he picked Lyla up by her the back of the collar of her shirt. Her face was bloody and she was only partly conscious. "She's no use to us… She's yours, Fenrir."

Shibuya was in a world of pain, but he lifted his face and saw the Irish having Lyla in his hand and Fenrir raising its claw. "No… STOP!!" Shibuya shouted his lungs out, but the Irish did no indication of listening, even if he is… why should he comply? Then, as if in slow motion, the beast brought down its claws across Lyla. Blood gushed out of the gash made by the wolf's hooked claws, splattering on the Irish's smiling face. "LYLA!!!!"

"YOU…. BASTARD!!!!" Shibuya's angry shout made the other's look up to see him jumping to his feet and running towards the Irish, phone in hand. The giant wolf got in his way, but he didn't stop. "I'LL KILL YOU, DAMN IT!!!! PERSONA!!!"

Shibuya flipped his phone on, but instead of the usual blue light a black light emerged from the phone and engulfed the entire rooftop area. Wang and the rest of the Persona-users were engulfed in the overwhelming darkness. "Damn, don't tell me…" Trance whispered as the last speck of light left his vision. "God, please no…" Mellissa said. Ai prayed silently while Wang just looked dumbstruck. There was also fear in Akimi's face as everything disappeared from her vision.

Then suddenly, the darkness disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. The force emitted by the dispersal of the dark energy was so powerful that it threw not only Shibuya's teammates but also the Irish and Fenrir to the very edges of the rooftop. "This energy… it's impossible…"

Shibuya now stood in the pinnacle of the dark energy, tears flowing uncontrollably from his eyes. "I'm… going… to… kill… you!!" he shouted at the Irish. At the same time, all the dark energy re-converged around him and his eyes changed from the black it usually was to a fiery red. "Tsukuryuu~Yoru-no-Ou!!!"

The dark energy formed a pillar of darkness which pointed straight at the moon in the night sky from which within it emerged an enormous dragon. Its scale was pure black with a white shining underbelly. It has three pairs of draconic wings as well as two branched tails. Its body was lined from its head to its tail with golden sharp spines and blood red orbs. Its head was pointed with its mouth lined with golden sharp fangs. It also had the same crescent shaped crest on its forehead just as Tsukuyomi had had on his helm. It descended and wrapped its long, snake-like body around the Academy building, its claws gripping tightly on the walls.

"A Chaos Persona?!" The Irish shouted in disbelief. Shibuya's Tsukuryuu easily outsized Fenrir, as the latter was only the size of one of Tsukuryuu's six wings. The Irish wasn't the only one shocked by the appearance of the dragon as Wang, Trance and Mitsuru was also at a loss of words the moment their eyes fell on the black dragon. Even Mellissa, Akimi and Ai who was tending to Lyla's wounds were speechless at the sight of such a grand, if though unholy beast.

Shibuya's eyes are now shining bloody red. He looked directly at the Irish and Fenrir. Quickly his faced broke into a maniacal grin. "You killed her… Now, I'll kill you!!"

The great dragon brought down its enormous claw upon the wolf, which dodged the attack with only a hair's breadth to spare. Tsukuryuu gave no time for its prey to rest as it quickly charged up a large ball of pure dark energy in its mouth. "Ankoku no Tsukikage…"

"Shibuya, no!" Mellissa had only managed to gasp before the dragon let loose the dense burst of energy which ripped through a major part of the building, decimating all in its wake. Even through the deafening sound of destruction, Shibuya's laughter rang through the dark sky.

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Mellissa got back up after somehow surviving Shibuya's carnage, and quickly looked round to check on the rest of the group and was relived to find that everyone was alright though unconscious. She then looked up to check on Shibuya and let out a loud gasp.

Shibuya was standing on the last part of the building that remained untouched by Tsukuryuu's attack and his Chaos Persona was holding the Irish man by the forehead in between two long pointed claws. The Irish had clearly lost his insanity and Chaos Persona as he is now crying and begging for his life.

"You think that you deserve to be forgiven?" Shibuya shouted at the top of his voice, and that was all Mellissa could hear as the Irish spoke something that was inaudible to her. She saw Shibuya smile and Tsukuryuu tightening its grip on the man's head. The man now screamed in pain, a blood-curdling, agonizing scream.

"Oh, don't worry… You won't die yet…" Shibuya's voice was heard again over the scream. "I'll make sure you suffer before you die…" Mellissa couldn't bear to watch as the man let out another scream, this time louder and more painful than the last. Mellissa shut her eyes tight as the torture continued.

"That'll be enough." The appearance of a third voice wrenched Mellissa's eyes open again and saw a tall man wearing a long hooded cape standing opposing Shibuya and the Irish. His face and features couldn't be made out in the darkness but clearly his very presence sends shivers down Mellissa's spine.

Then, without any warning, a long thick root-like tentacle pierced through both the Irish and Shibuya. "The fu…" Those words escaped Shibuya's mouth before collapsing face-first onto the floor.

"SHIBUYA!!!" Mellissa shouted, not caring about the Irish as he was clearly dead the moment the tentacle pierced his heart. She stood up but was unable to move, as if rooted to the spot. The hooded man looked at her with a smile.

In a breeze the man swept over to Mellissa side and held her chin up with his pale, long fingers. "You're a cute one, aren't you?" With that he reached his bony, pale finger towards her face, which was stricken wit horror. "NOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

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Ai remembered nothing after the enormous dragon that was Shibuya's Persona blasted apart nearly the entire Academy building. The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital bed next to Lyla and Akimi.

The first thing she saw the moment she opened her eyes was Wang sleeping on a chair next to her bed, and that made her smile a little. She then saw that the others were in the room as well, save Shibuya.

Her first instinct was to ask where Shibuya was but she denied that desire seeing the look on the others' face. Headmistress Mitsuru was looking anxiously out of the ward door through the small window on the wooden door, while Mellissa was staring blankly out the open window.

Lyla was still unconscious and was sleeping soundly; clearly she was out of danger. Akimi sat on her bed with a broken arm with Trance sitting on a chair between her and Ai's bed.

"It seems that a majority of is now awake," Headmistress Mitsuru broke the awkward silence. Everyone quickly turned towards her, all alert and ready. "Shibuya is still in intensive care as his stomach had taken quite a hit from last night's battle so he won't be joining us today, as well as Lyla." She said, looking at the sleeping brunette sadly.

"We're here today to discuss the current situation we're facing," She continued, turning away from Lyla, as if giving her some privacy. "Last night's battle proven our theory of the large gap in power between the Chaos Personas and normal Personas. And that is a big disadvantage to us, of course, looking at the situation we're in…"

"What kind of situation're we talkin' bout here?" Trance cut in. He is clearly still in pain from yesterday's battle even though he's not showing any signs of extensive external injury. Headmistress Mitsuru nodded at his question before turning to Mellissa who was still by the open window. "I believe Miss Belle can give us a better insight on the problem we're having."

Mellissa turned back to her friends, her face showing signs of deep thought and consideration. She took a deep breath before saying, "Last night…" she paused to take another breath. "The man who injured… Shi… Shibuya spoke to me…" her voice was wavering. "He told me… something… about the widespread insanity among people… and how the insanity is calling out to… My Love… whatever that means…"

"He said that… every Chaos Persona-users in the world is going to sing the praise and welcome the coming of his Love…" Mellissa said, her eyes showing an expression of utmost fear. Everyone was confused but Mellissa continued before anyone had the chance to ask. "He told me that every Persona-user in this world would be infected… and become one of… 'them'… and he…"

At this point Mellissa broke down, crying and sobbing her heart out.

"What! He what?!" Trance demanded. He reached forward to grab Mellissa by her shoulders, to shake the words out of her but was stopped by Ai, who got up from bed and held him back with some help from Wang who had also sprang to his feet to stop Trance.

"He infected her with a seed of insanity…" Headmistress Kirijo finished the sentence and quickly looked down onto her own feet. The group looked at Mellissa in disbelief, each having a mixed look of anger on sorrow marked upon their face.

Trance was just about to open his mouth to say something when a loud booming sound erupted down the hallway.

"What was that?!" Headmistress Kirijo demanded to the first person she saw outside of the ward, a young man in his 20's. "Something happened at room 1278, there was only one patient in that intensive care unit and he is still unconscious but somehow the doctors are unable to open the door!"

"Room 1278… Wait! That is Shibuya's…!!!" Hearing this, the group, minus Lyla, quickly rushed out and ran towards the said dorm with Headmistress Kirijo leading the way. There they found people crowding the door as doctors, and now the entire hospital staff did their very best trying to get the door open, but it wouldn't budge. They've considered breaking down the door but found, to their surprise, that the door repelled even a mighty swing from a fire axe.

"Excuse me!" Headmistress Kirijo pushed past the crowd and banged loudly at the door, followed by Mellissa and the others. "Shibuya!! Open up! Shibuya!!!!"

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_First and foremost I would like to thank all my readers for submitting character designs for me to put in my story. However, good things have to at one point come to an end, so I want to announce that I am closing all character submission after this message is posted. Sorry to everyone who is hoping to send in one of their characters, but I ran out of spaces for characters.... So, once again thank you to all, and especially:_

Minako the Dragon Maiden of DW: Akira Kuroyama, Akimi Kuroyama, Kyoji Kinomura  
Kakanma: Ryan MacDonald (the Irish Chaos Persona-user) _Sorry, his name was never mentioned!  
_Kaeru Soyokaze: Katya Talanov (chapter 18)  
aranox12: Rai Urden (chapter 19+)  
Bit-Basketcase: Hwa Young Park (chapter 19)  
Timeless Dreamer Neo: Fragment (chapter 18)  
Fireblast123: Hailey Shannon (chapter 19+)

Thank you! Arigato! Terima Kasih! Merci! Salamat! Grazie!....(insert all different languages for thank you in the world!) Please do keep on supporting this story!

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_Mellissa: Shibuya! Open this door! Quick!_

_Shibuya: (Everyone's calling for me… But…)_

_Trance: Somebody call the police!! Heyy!!!_

_Headmistress Kirijo: Calm down, we have an ace detective here to help us out with our case. Next time on Persona: One World… "Moment of Divergence" .We've got to calm down, everyone!_

_Trance: Darn it… Where the hell are you? SHIBUYA!!!_


	15. Chronicle Fifteen: Moment of Divergence

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series nor do I own the characters that are associated. This story and the characters introduced in it are mine and therefore owned by me, except for some characters which is submitted in by my dear readers. Let's get back to the story shall we?_

Persona: One World

Chronicle Fifteen: Moment of Divergence

_Where...? _Shibuya asked himself, and found that he was looking down upon himself on a hospital bed and connected by various tubes and wires to some machines._ What_ _the heck…?_ The machine showed that he was breathing steadily and he was still alive.

Shibuya tried his best to remember what happened yesterday but could only recall flashes of last night moment when the Irish Chaos Persona-user's Fenrir drove its claw into Lyla.

"Ugh!" Shibuya groaned and fell to his knees, recoiling in the sudden pain at the memory. He tried to remember what happened next, but found himself plagued with searing pains throughout his body and mind. He held his head, trying to force himself to remember what happened to Lyla after the wolf had slashed her.

"You can't remember?" a voice asked Shibuya. He looked up and got the shock of his life, as there stood another him, though this one had glowing red eyes in place of his usual black and had an inhuman grin etched across his face.

"Who're you?" Shibuya demanded.

"I'm you, of course…" the 'other' him responded. Shibuya couldn't believe it, so he stood up again and reached for his phone in his jacket pocket. "I'm serious here! Who the hell are you?!"

"I'm you." His other responded through his grin. "Can't you even see that?"

"That's it; your joke'd gone too far! Tsukuyomi!" Shibuya shouted, holding his phone horizontally in front of him. However the summoning didn't occur and the phone lay dead with the Moon Arcana shattered. "What the? The Moon's?"

The other Shibuya smile grew. He too pulled out his phone and held it in the similar fashion as Shibuya did. "Let me show you how it's done… Chaos! Persona!!" the dark light poured out of the other's phone and from within his other emerged a 6-winged dark dragon, its size hundreds of times larger that Tsukuyomi ever was.

"Damn it, Persona!!" Shibuya tried again and again summoning his Persona again but to no avail. His other smiled triumphantly at his futile attempts. "Stop it; you're making me look bad… Get this done and over with, Tsukuryuu!!"

On command, the dragon opened its mouth wide revealing rows of golden fangs. Shibuya could do no less than closing his eyes; as if readying to brace the force of those pointed fangs crush down upon him. Even his hand which was holding onto his phone was limp with no effort whatsoever to defend himself.

Then, over the roaring of the Chaos Persona dragon, there was shouting. It was of two men; each on Shibuya's sides. Hearing this Shibuya's eyes flew open and saw two pure white Personas standing in front of him, shielding him from the dragon's attack.

"Shibuya Hiruma." The voice on the left was of the Blue Haired Young Man that Shibuya had met earlier in the Velvet Room. He was holding a gun to his own head; apparently that was his method of summoning his Persona. On Shibuya's left was another young man, this one had his gray hair falling over his glasses. He looked older than both Shibuya and the Blue Haired Young Man.

"We're going to have to take you away from here." Said the Gray Haired Young Man. "It is not safe for you, especially in the condition you're in - or rather, your Persona's in…"

Shibuya didn't answer to that comment. He knew he is now unable to summon his Persona, and until he can find a solution to that problem he knew that he is defenseless against the Chaos Personas and Shadows, not to mention becoming a burden to Lyla and the others.

"What the hell are you all talking about?! I'll kill all of you!!" Shibuya's other self shouted, clearly irritated at the unwanted interruption. Tsukuryuu flew at the group again, this time towards the two white Personas first.

"You shall not hurt anyone!" shouted the Blue Haired Young Man. His white Persona, the one which had some sort of hands/wings on him, and was holding onto a chain of coffins, opened his wings and from itself radiated a white light which repelled the dark dragon. The dragon turned back from the blinding light and involuntarily distanced itself from the Shibuya and the two men.

The other white Persona – the Gray Haired Young Man's Persona – flew at the dragon, taking advantage of the dragon's temporary disability to bring down his _naginata_ upon the dragon's head, cleaving and wounding the dragon greatly.

The dragon gave a roar of agony as do its user whom howled in pain and clutching his head. He then rolled on the ground as if suffering from a torturing pain.

The Blue Haired Young Man nodded at the Gray Haired Young Man who in turn turned to Shibuya. "This is our chance. Let's get out of here while he is still in that condition…" Shibuya knew that he was in no position to argue, so he obediently followed as the two men, but not before taking one last look at his other self and his physical body… or where his physical body had once were…

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"Shibuya!!" Mellissa and the others shouted the moment they had finally accessed the locked ward. However, to their dismay Shibuya wasn't there. All were silent for a second, all looking around for a sign of Shibuya's whereabouts. There was no sign of any sort of disturbance in the room, and the tastefully furnished room was clearly in perfect condition.

"Where's he?" Trance asked, looking around the room. The others searched the room, even in the bathroom, but found nothing. Akimi even looked out the window but found that it's physically impossible for Shibuya to go out that way as the room was on the 8th floor.

They regrouped after a two hour search around the hospital but each turned up empty-handed. They each sat around the empty bed, tired from their search.

"Damn, where the hell could that guy had gone to?!" Wang said, slamming his fist onto the bed angrily. The others looked at him but kept quiet as nobody had the answer to that question.

"We should all calm down, there's no point in getting all angry here," Headmistress Kirijo's suggestion sounded more like a command, which worked and kept Wang quiet for a second. "We'll have to make a police report on this case, I'll file a missing person report on Shibuya as well as reporting this to the Interpol as Shibuya's of Japanese nationality lost on French lands…"

"I can help out with the police, _professeur…_"

Everyone turned towards the source of the voice and found Lyla limping her way into the ward. Akimi and Ai rushed up to help her and set her down on a chair next to Shibuya's bed. "Why'd you get out of bed? You're injured!" Ai scolded her but Lyla kept composed.

"I can go file the missing person report," Lyla repeated, calmly and confidently. "I want to find him as well, so please at least let me contribute this!"

"Don't be stupid! You're supposed to be resting right now! You can leave this to the rest of us!" Wang scolded. The rest of the group seemed to agree with Wang, all except for Headmistress Mitsuru who smiled as if recalling a sweet memory.

"You do exactly that, Lyla." She said, flashing her charming smile. She then turned to the others. "Finding Shibuya is now our top priority, and every member that is able must participate. So what's wrong in letting Lyla help out even in the tiniest of way? After all it's not a heavy job I'm giving her."

Everyone had been so used to the headmistress's commands that nobody dared to open their mouth to challenge her statement. She knew this as well and smiled.

"Now that that's settled… We'll meet up back at the Academy in a week's time to report any development in this case." Headmistress Kirijo said dismissively. The group nodded to this notion and prepared themselves for their journey home tonight through the Nightmare Zones.

Wang's sleep was troubled that night. Though he tossed and turned on his bed all night he still felt the intense giddiness about Shibuya's disappearance. Who'll lead the team next? That question kept playing over and over in his head. It would be a great insult to let a girl lead the team and it is very, very unlikely that that Trance guy had any concrete leadership quality in him…

_There's only one perfect candidate for the job… _Wang told himself. _Me._

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A week seemed to fly in a breeze, as there was no news on Shibuya's whereabouts so far. Akimi, who had returned to Japan and checked out Shibuya's house, found that his mother had not seen him for a while, and neither do his friends and teachers at school. The French police had also made no development on the case, so the group is now on wit's end.

"Welcome everyone." Headmistress Kirijo welcomed the group into her office the following morning after they had all arrived through their respective Nightmare Zones. They resided for one night in the Academy's guest rooms before reporting in the next morning.

There was however a new face in the room today. It was a smartly dressed woman, who was wearing a blazer and slacks just like a man does. She had blue hair and sharp eyes and there was no mistaking that she was Japanese.

"Hello everyone," she greeted with such an air of professionalism that commanded the attention of others. "I'm Inspector Naoto Shirogane from the Interpol, here to serve you all."

"Thank you for coming, Inspector. I believe that you have the case details already?" Inspector Shirogane nodded at the Headmistress's inquiry and produced a filed stack of papers from her briefcase. "The missing person, Shibuya Hiruma, correct?"

The group nodded simultaneously. She proceeded to ask more questions regarding the case before placing the papers back into her briefcase. "I'm going to have to go and check out the scene of the incident."

The group escorted Inspector Shirogane to the hospital room, which was left untouched by direct orders from Headmistress Kirijo, who was also one of the board members of the hospital.

To everyone's amazement, the first object that the Inspector inspected was the television set in the room. It was a 32 inch plasma model, and was placed on a cabinet that's opposite the patient's bed. The inspector nodded to herself before once again baffling the group by asking the weather forecast for tonight.

"It's going to rain…" Lyla answered, remembering the weather forecast she saw in the lounge that morning. "That's good then…" Inspector Shirogane made a note of this and quickly packed her stuff, apparently getting ready to take her leave. "I'll be meeting all of you tomorrow then."

She turned and left the group with a thousand and one questions unanswered in their heads.

The sounds of the calm ocean waves over the misty seas filled the ears of Shibuya Hiruma as he walked onto what seems like the deck of a sailing cruise liner. All around the ship was covered by a thick mist, and the seas seemed to stretch out infinitely all around them…

The Blue Haired Young Man together with the Gray Haired Young Man was waiting for him up ahead as was Igor. Though they are not saying anything, Shibuya knew that they meant business here. Knowing that, he walked on strong forward just as he knew his friends weren't stopping either…

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_Ins. Shirogane: This case is quite interesting… We might have to bring in the 'special' investigations team… (Smiles)_

_Ai: We're going to Japan? (She lookes a bit.... scared....)_

_Trance: Hell yeah! We're off to Japan, people!! _

_Wang: If this has anything to do with those Chaos Persona-users… I'll crush them to dust!_

_Lyla: Wherever you are Shibuya… I hope you'll keep watching over us. Next time on Persona: One World, "Our Move!" Have faith in us, Shibuya!_

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	16. Chronicle Sixteen: Our Move

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona Series and all of the characters introduced in the series. All original characters in this story are mine as well as those of my readers in the case of characters submitted in by them… Anyway, enjoy the story!_

Persona: One World

Chronicle Sixteen: Our Move

"Hang in there, we're almost there…" Wang had never felt so embarrassed in all his 20 years of life, as he said these words over and over soothingly. The reason was simple and in plain sight though… Ai was clinging onto his arm tightly the entire flight, shivering in pure fear of flight.

"_We are approaching Kansai International Airport; we thank you for flying with China Airlines."_

"Aieeeee!!" Ai suddenly shrieked as the plane started its descent; much to the laughter of other passangers and to Wang's embarrassment. He grudgingly made a mental note to remember to take a different flight from her the next time they're going anywhere…

Wang and Ai was the last to arrive in Kansai International Airport that day, and was greeted by Headmistress Kirijo, Mellissa, Lyla, and Trance the moment they emerged with their luggage. Joining them that day was Inspector Naoto Shirogane from the Interpol, whom was also the one who invited them to come over to Japan in order to meet some 'special investigations team', whose identities she didn't disclose.

Five days ago, after much inspection on the hospital room in which Shibuya disappeared in, Inspector Shirogane met up with the group and told them that this might not be just an ordinary disappearance case and asked for their cooperation in the investigations. She then requested the group to come over to Japan, where they will work together with a 'special investigations team'. Wang was the first to decline the invitation but changed his mind after much coaxing. With Headmistress Kirijo funding their flight, the group was on their way to Shibuya's home land… Japan.

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"So this is Japan…" Mellissa commented while onboard the train leading them to Inaba, Japan. Mellissa was most excited when the trip to Japan was mentioned, and was clearly having the time of her life all the way from the airport to the train station, making notes and taking pictures; clearly she had long since forgotten the terrible events of the seed of darkness being planted in her body not too long ago and is treating this trip as a vacation.

Lyla, on the other hand, was unusually quiet. Though at school she was the sweet and shy type kind of girl, now her silence was almost deathly. Ai noticed this, but later decided not to say anything about it. She knew what's going through her small brunette friend's head right now, and knew that there was nothing to worry of the strong girl.

"We're here." Inspector Shirogane announced as soon as the group was off the train. Waiting for them was a local female police officer who had short brown hair and an exceptionally cheery face. She was a little taller than Inspector Shirogane; about the same height as Headmistress Kirijo.

"Quite an entourage you've brought with you, Naoto-kun!" she greeted Inspector Shirogane enthusiastically. She grinned at her own comment and looked over the world renowned detective's head to get a better view of the Japanese lady, an American-African man, a Chinese couple, an English blonde and a small French brunette… really quite an entourage…

"It's nice to see you again, Chie-sempai." Inspector Shirogane smiled at her long-time friend, who mirrored her as well. She then turned to the group. "Let's go, they're already waiting for us." She motioned to a van waiting for them on the parking lot and led the group towards it. "Hang on, 'cos this ride's gonna be more than a little bumpy!"

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Loud and rapid clanging of metal broke the serenity of the sounds of calmly lapping waves of the misty seas against the sides of the large cruise ship. Onboard the ship's deck was three men, each handling a sword and was striking at one another. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't the three men fighting one another but rather a two-on-one handicap match.

The Blue Haired Young Man handled his smaller, rapier-style sword with deadly precision, striking swiftly and strongly at the black-haired Shibuya Hiruma. Shibuya, who was wielding a katana, had only barely managed to block most of the fierce assault and suffered many cuts from attacks that got under his guard. Not that it was easy playing the defense; the Gray Haired Young Man was also coming at him with an iron baseball bat, apparently dead set on knocking Shibuya's head up and over the railings.

The fighting was fierce, with Shibuya constantly pressured on the defense by his two opponents. He managed to get a few attacks on, but was quickly put back into guard by the furious strings of attacks. He had only managed to block the Gray Haired Young Man's attack when the Blue Haired Young man lunged at him with his sword. Shibuya was anticipating this, and quickly ducked under the attack, pulling his katana away from the Gray Haired Young Man's bat at the same time. Then, using the momentum of the evasion he swung his katana back up at the Blue Haired Young Man who was completely defenseless.

"This is it!!"

"That's useless!!" The Blue Haired Young Man shouted, his free left hand had always been on his gun-shaped Evoker and during Shibuya's counter-attack it was already pointed to its wielder's head. He shouted, "THOR!!" and pulled the trigger.

In a burst of lightning the thunder-god emerged from within the Blue Haired Young Man's body and used his mighty hammer Mjolnir to block Shibuya's sword strike. Shibuya pulled back as the Persona charged up the power of lightning in his body before transferring the power to his hammer.

"Damn it!" Shibuya shouted and pulled out his phone. "Tsuku…" He stopped mid-word as a vision of the dark dragon his other self summoned flashed through his mind, causing him to drop his phone onto the floor.

At that moment, Thor let loose his charged up storm hammer. The attack was virtually unavoidable and Shibuya took a direct hit to his chest. The attack sent him flying across the ship's deck and landed painfully on his back.

Shibuya managed to jump back onto his feet in time, just as Thor made a rush towards him and swung his hammer where Shibuya's head were a mere second ago. The hammer smashed the deck wooden floor and threw up shards of wood into the air, but that didn't stop Shibuya from swinging his katana upwards at the Persona.

"Eh?" Shibuya's swing was perfect, but missed its target completely as it disappeared into thin air. "You lose focus too fast, Shibuya-kun!" the Gray Haired Young Man commented as he moved at an unbelievable speed to take Thor's place and swung his metal bat against Shibuya's katana in which the latter flew out of its wielder's hand and into the ocean.

"Not bad, not bad at all I'll say…" Said Igor, who was watching the fight and clapping his hands together.

"He still has a lot to learn," said the Blue Haired Young Man, which earned a nod from the Grey Haired Young Man. Shibuya was clearly annoyed by that but let none out but a rebellious grunt.

"Than it's a good thing that this battle was not to be fought by us alone… Others are on the move…" Igor said in his usual calm, but mysterious tone. He then turned to the Gray Haired Young Man, who looked out into the vast, misty ocean.

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"Wow… Chie, Naoto-kun, where DID you two pick up these guys?" asked the manager of the inn where Officer Chie Satonaka stopped at. The inn itself was impressive; grand, but still kept the sense of tranquility of its natural surroundings. And the manager herself was gorgeous, with smooth, silky black hair and wearing a beautifully patterned pink kimono. Her entrancing smile was enough to make any man melt under her very gaze.

"So this is the Amagi Inn…" Mellissa commented, rubbing her chin as she looked around the inn with great curiosity. She was like a kid in a candy shop; looking with insatiable interest. "One of the 'Must-Visit' places while in Japan! I can't believe I'm actually here!"

"Then, you must be the world-famous Ms. Yukiko Amagi!" Mellissa exclaimed, taking the manager's hands in hers. "Wow, you're more beautiful in person than in the pictures in those travel magazines! Just how do you keep that fair complexion? Is it the hot springs?"

"Now, now… why don't you calm down a little?" said Trance, putting his hands on Mellissa's shoulders. The girl seemed to come back to her senses and let go of the manager's hands. "Sorry…"

"It's alright, as she had said my name's Yukiko Amagi, manager of this inn," she said to the group. "And as manager, I bid you all welcome to our humble inn."

"Wow, you're getting better at this manager-thing, Yukiko!" Officer Satonaka laughed at another one of her long time friends. She then thought of something before asking her friend. "Hey, have you seen Yosuke around? I swear; that guy hadn't grown up since our high school days!"

"Nope, he doesn't come here often…Shouldn't you be the one taking care of him? His fiancée aren't you, Mrs. Hanamura~?" Ms. Amagi asked, causing her brown haired police officer friend to blush.

"He… he's not my husband yet!!" shouted Officer Satonaka loudly, her face was blushing madly. She quickly regained her composure though, but refused to talk to Yukiko anymore.

"Oh my! I've completely forgotten about the guests!" Yukiko exclaimed, looking apologetically at Mellissa and the group. "I believe that you'll want to rent some rooms?" she asked Headmistress Kirijo before realizing whom she was speaking to.

"You're Mitsuru-san, from the Kirijo Group aren't you?" Yukiko exclaimed in disbelief. "Yes, I am." The red-haired woman smiled and held out a hand. "_Enchante" _

Ms. Amagi shook Headmistress Kirijo's hand before the two proceeded to discuss about the group's accommodations.

Meanwhile, as the others were caught up in checking out the inn, Trance managed to strike up a conversation with Inspector Shirogane.

"So… you're like, a detective since what? High school?" he asked.

"Actually I've been a detective a little earlier than that, but before then I was just helping out my grandfather with his work." The inspector answered coolly. She might have looked very intimidating at first, but she's quite nice once you get to know her.

"Wow… back in my high school days I was doing crime, but you're already solving 'em…" Trance mused. "At least, I was lucky that you're not in the school I was in!"

To his amazement, she laughed. At first he had thought that she was the dead serious kinda lady, but this taught him not to judge a book by its cover…

"Guys, I've got our rooms," said Headmistress Kirijo, holding up two room keys. "There are two rooms, one for you guys and the other for us ladies."

"We're in separate rooms?" groaned Trance, who later cowered under the piercing glares shot at him by the Headmistress and the girls. He, however, could still see the fleeting sadness behind Lyla's eyes…

_That night…_

"Darn it! What the hell are the Shadows doing here?!" shouted the brown haired young manager of Inaba's local Junes mall, Yosuke Hanamura, as he ran down the hall of the shopping centre which is now a Nightmare Zone infested by Shadows.

"These Shadows… they are not like those from inside the TV!" shouted his assistant, a handsome blonde young man known only as Teddy, as he kept up with the manager. "I couldn't smell them until we see them just now!"

The two kept running, turning at corners only to turn back when they found out that most of the mall was overrun by Shadows.

"Damn it, what would 'he' do if 'he' was here?!"

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_Double-post.... so long since I posted anything here, so I thought I could give you all an early Christmas present by two uploading two chapters in one go! Hahaha.... hope you all enjoyed this two chapter! I finally introduced some of the original character from the original game series, hope my depiction of them is okay.... Please do write in your comments about them, so I could improve on their personalities as well..... I hope that everyone will continue supporting this series!_

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_Lyla: Are we on holiday?_

_Mellissa: I thought we're looking for Shibuya?_

_Trance: We had it rough.... time to chill out and relax!_

_Headmistress Kirijo: Yeah, maybe you all deserve some rest.... Hmmm... and I'm starting to feel a little rusty with my fighting..._

_Inspector Naoto Shirogane: We'll handle things for now. Next on Persona: One World 'One More Chance!" Maybe we should take the stage once in a while, right?_

_Wang, Ai, Lyla, Mellissa, Trance: Ehh???!!!_


	17. Chronicle Seventeen: One More Chance!

Persona: One World

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona Series or the characters that was introduced in them. I only own this story and all original characters in this story, in exception of the characters submitted by my readers… _

Persona: One World

Chronicle Seventeen: One More Chance!

"The Council had assembled, sire." Akira Kuroyama's voice was heard in from one of the 9 dark-hooded figure assembled along the sides of a large darkened hall. Another dark-hooded figure entered the hall, and took his place on a throne at the end of the hallway. Unlike the other dark-hooded members of the hall, this one wore an air of utmost darkness. If all the hatred and fears of mankind would have manifested into a being, he would fit the bill perfectly.

The cloaked man, whom from underneath the hood could be seen the glow of his deep purple eyes, took his raised a hand and ten smaller throne-like chairs appeared next to the other hooded figures. One seat was empty though.

"I'm afraid that Loki, he…" Akira quickly tried to explain, but the dark-hooded being held up a hand to silence him.

"He's dead." The cloaked figure on the throne cut across Akira's words. "I was the one that executed him."

"Is that so, sir…" Said Akira while he, who was under one of those hoods, bowed.

"But worry not, we'll soon have another Chaos Persona-user joining our cause…" even in the darkness of the Council, the figure on the throne's evil grin could be felt by those present in the Hall. "Very... soon...."

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"Japanese hot springs are the best aren't they?" Headmistress Kirijo commented. She, as well as Lyla, Mellissa, Ai and Inspector Shirogane were having a good time together in the Amagi Inn outdoor hot springs.

"Indeed they are, and they're good for the body as well." The Inspector commented while enjoying the warm embrace of the natural hot waters. It had been some time since they sat around talking lightly to each other; they had been through a lot in the past few days. And nothing beats soaking in a hot spring with nothing but your girlfriends.

"Naoto-kun!" Officer Satonaka rushed into the hot-springs area, fully clothed. Behind her was Ms. Amagi; both women seemed to be quite alarmed.

"Is it the men's turn to use the springs?" Mellissa asked, sounding disappointed.

"Yosuke! He's gone!" Officer Satonaka cried, clearly worried.

"Gone?"

"Yeah, like… I called up his parents… they said that he went to have one last round around Junes with Teddie, but neither of them came out!"

Inspector Shirogane massaged her chin, "How long had they been in there?"

"About 2 hours…"Officer Satonaka replied before adding. "I tried his cell phone, but it said that he was out of the service area… which couldn't have been…"

"Inspector, this could've been…" Headmistress Kirijo said looking into the blue-haired Interpol Inspector in the eyes.

"We'll check out the area, Chie could you get the boys to wait for us at the lobby?" the Inspector instructed while pulling herself out of the water. "We're all are going to go check this out…"

The group nodded and quickly moved to get dressed for the operation.

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Yosuke and Teddie had lost count on which floor they're in now; they've gone up and down dead escalators, only to find that the next floor was just as overrun by Shadows as the last. "What do we do now, Yosuke?!"

"Keep running, Ted!' Yosuke urged, pulling the blonde bishonen with him. It seemed as if they have been around the mall hundreds of times but had never once seen an exit.

"Damn it, this is just like in the TV before!" Yosuke cursed as he and Teddie ran into another dead end, "I was sure this was an exit before!" He looked back at the swarm of Shadows, which is creeping closer to them by the second. "Damn it, SETAAA!!!!"

"GEFJUN!!"

A flash of white light, accompanied by a bolt of lightning, shattered the swarm of Shadows, opening a way for a group of people to get to Yosuke and Teddie, Mellissa and her Persona Gefjun, led the group, while Wang, Ai, Lyla and Trance put a fight at the back.

"Yosuke, you're alright!" Officer Satonaka rushed forth and hugged the brown-haired young man. Both Ms Amagi and Inspector Shirogane looked equally relieved to see that the two were alright. "Yeah, it's alright now Chie… I'm fine…" Yosuke said, soothingly brushing Chie's brown hair with his hand,

"Whatever the case is, we gotta move fast. These Shadows aren't slowing down even one bit!" Trance shouted over to Yosuke and the others as his Persona Anansi fought together side-by-side with Diana, Areong Jong and Sui Ren against waves after waves of Shadows.

With a nod, Officer Satonaka and Ms. Amagi helped the two men up. "What the hell is going on here?!" Yosuke asked Inspector Shirogane as they ran following Wang and the others. "Why the heck are the Shadows here? In the real world?!"

"This is what they call a Nightmare Zone!" the shorter female Interpol inspector answered, looking back to ensure that the Shadows are a good distance away. "It's an area where Shadows and Personas can exist!"

"Holy crap...." Wang suddenly stopped, looking awestruck. Trance and the girls stopped as well, seeing the giant Shadow in front of them. It looked like a monster from a horror movie, complete with a creepy mask and a menacing butcher knife. The butcher Shadow took a heavy step forward, its steps caused enough of a quake to unbalance the Persona-users. "It's huge!"

"Who cares if its huge?! I'll brin' it down a notch!!" Trance shouted, his Persona leaping up to face the giant butcher, only to be swatted down like a fly. Trance fell to the ground as well as his Persona hit the floor, hard enough to make it fly down a few floors.

"Trance! Erhhh what the f... Sui Ren!!" Wang shouted, his lapse of attention to the battle caused his Persona to pause. The Shadow took this chance to slash him with the knife, cutting a gash on Wang's back as the red armored warrior Persona disappeared. "Damn that son of a..."

Headmistress Kirijo looked in horror as the two male young Persona-users were defeated in a matter of seconds, while the female Persona-users were trembling so hard at such a sight of an abomination. She reached inside her jacket pocket, her hand trembling slightly as she felt the cold metal inside.

"These kids, I don't know what they're teaching 'em these days..." Yosuke said suddenly, walking in front of the group. "You're a teacher aren't you, Headmistress? You sure you don't want to give them a pointer or two?"

"I thought so too,... Mr. Hanamura, correct?"

"Just call me Yosuke, ma'am." He said, before looking at Inspector Shirogane and the others. "Let's give these kids a quick lesson, shall we?"

Inspector Shirogane, Officer Satonaka, Ms. Amagi, Teddie and even Headmistress Kirijo smiled. A great wind started to form around the group as each pulled out a pair of glasses, and Headmistress Kirijo a silver gun, which she put to her own head.

"PERSONA!!!!"

The simultaneous Persona summoning was accompanied with such a powerful burst of energy that forced the giant Shadow to shield itself with its arms. "Susano-O!!!!" Yosuke shouted, his own ninja-like Persona jumping at the Shadow and delivered a heavy punch into the Shadow's guts, causing it double over in pain. "Don't give it time to recover, Amaterasu!!" Ms. Amagi shouted as well, her silver maiden Persona sending a large sun-like ball of fire at the Shadow. The explosion from the attack was so massive that it ripped apart the empty stores lining the hallway.

The Shadow let out a fierce, pained roar as it fell to it tried to get up from the attack. "Let's go Naoto, Ted!" Officer Satonaka called for Inspector Shirogane and Teddie, who nodded. "Let's go Chie-chan, Naoto-kun! Com-bear-na-tion Attack~~!!!" Officer Satonaka's Persona, the warrior-lady Suzuka Gongen, was the first in line and delivered a clean slash to the giant Shadow's face, followed by Inspector Shirogane's Yamato-Takeru's high-speed slashing attacks, which left the Shadow wide open for Teddie's Kamui to deliver a rocket boosted slam attack which knocked the Shadow off balance.

"Artemisia!!" Headmistress Kirijo sent her own Persona, the whip-wielding knight Persona to deliver the one last blow needed to knock down the Shadow.

"This is it!! All-Out-Attack!" Yosuke shouted, in which everyone answered with a roar in unison. Together, the six Personas quickly rushed the Shadow, hitting it with flurries after flurries of attacks. Wang, Trance, Lyla, Ai and Mellissa could only watch in awe as the six Personas made mincemeat out of the Shadow.

"Fuh... that was some workout!" Officer Satonaka said, after her Persona was done with the Shadow and was dispelled. Even Headmistress Kirijo was smiling with satisfaction after the battle.

"Th...that was awesome, _Proffesseur_!" exclaimed Lyla in delight. Even Wang could not hide his amazement of the battle capabilities of the earlier generation Persona-users. He even forgot of his own injury...

"I've got to say so, that was quite a show... old-timers..." said a female voice from within the shadows of the darker side of the mall. From within the darkness emerged a short built girl, most probably just around Lyla's or Mellissa's age.

"And you are?!" shouted Wang, quite boldly. There was however a taste of fear in his voice.

"Hihi... Are you afraid of me?" she asked, much to Wang's own surprise. She stepped even further out into the moonlight, revealing her elegantly beautiful European face. She has long brown hair, tied into a high pony-tail. Reflected in the moonlight were her smart gray eyes.

"Are you one of 'them'?" Headmistress Kirijo asked.

"If by them, you mean Chaos Persona-users..." the girl said, with quite a relaxed tone, "Yes, my name's Katya Talanov.... Nice to meet you all!"

"As I thought.... SUI REN!!!" Wang wasted no time in summoning his Persona and sent his red warrior armored Persona straight towards the girl, weapons at the ready.

"My...my... aren't we impatient here..." the girl sighed and raised her own phone. "Persephone..."

A female Persona with long flowing golden hair appeared in front of Katya, blocking Sui Ren's weapon strike with a barrier of wind. Suddenly, a the autumn leaves that appeared along with the Persona was suddenly blown away from around her by a gust of wind which had blown away Sui Ren just as it did the leaves.

"Guh... Chaos Persona..." Wang muttered as he too felt the effect of the attack on his Persona. He bit his lips hard as his vision blurred before he realised that his glasses lay shattered at the feet of Katya's Persona. "That bi..."

"Oh that was not it just yet...." Katya laughed at Wang's comment. At that instant dark aura started to swirl around her, until it engulfed both she and her Persona. The darkness energy tore even the floor beneath their feet, until at one moment it subsided abruptly, the sudden stopping sent the energy in all direction and threw the Persona-users flying against the walls of the mall.

"This.... is a Chaos Persona!" Katya shouted. Her Persona had changed from the beautiful lady it once were to an ugly, naked woman whose body were only covered by her hair as well as a lot of hands which seemed to be coming out of the box it is holding. The many hands reached out to even seemed to root herself to the ground she stood on. "Feast them with fear, Pandora!!"

"What the hell is THAT?!" Yosuke shouted. He can certainly feel the evil energy emitted by the demonic Persona. Even the the very sight of the unholy being made him feel like throwing up. "That thing is not good, whatever it is! Susano-O!!!"

Susano-O the ninja Persona flew at supersonic speed towards the Chaos Persona, fist ready to take out the monstrous lady. "You think that that's gonna work? Such stupidity!" Katya laughed. Her Chaos Persona opened the box, releasing large number of hands which held fast onto Yosuke's Persona.

"Now drown in despair!" dark smoke was then released from the box, slowly rotting parts of Susano-O. "Ahhhh!!!!!" Yosuke cried out as his arm started to burn intensely, just as did his Persona's . He quickly dispelled his Persona, releasing himself from the painful torture.

"Yosuke!" Officer Satonaka shouted as Yosuke fell to the ground, clutching his burnt arm. "Damn that thing... damn that thing to hell!" he cursed, biting back the pain.

"We can't get close to it!" Wang shouted, getting back up after getting his wounds tended by Lyla and Ai. "We'll have to go long-range!"

"Alright then.... what if I do this? Rage Spark!!!" Mellissa shouted, sending her Persona Gefjun to fire a large bolt of lightning at the Chaos Persona, scoring a direct hit on the main body and sparking up a large explosion. "Yes!!" Mellissa started to cheer, but stopped abruptly when the dust settled, and Katya stood there smiling.

"Oh, that's a good move..." Katya said, unimpressed. "But..." the explosion subsided to reveal an unscathed Pandora. "You see.... I can do... THIS!!!" Katya shouted, as Pandora's Box was again opened which then released a larger bolt of lightning back at the group.

"Uhhhhh!!!!" Mellissa and her Persona was thrown back by the force of lightning which struck Gefjun squarely in the chest. She skidded on the floor a few meters before laid there, apparently unconscious.

"Mel!" Lyla shouted, looking at her downed friend. She looked back at Katya and then back at the Chaos Persona. Wang was in a conflict, whether to attack or to order a full retreat. Either way there may be no guarantee to their safety...

"Are you all hesitating?" Katya asked, clearly mocking the group by not attacking directly. "Than, I guess everything's gonna be boring then...."

Ms. Amagi clearly was hesitating to move. Before this she had been so used to following 'his' orders and commands in battle that she lost confidence in her own abilities.... She kept thinking, 'what would he do in a situation like this?' and had only now realized how much of a burden it is in being a leader....

Wang's dilemma reached its breaking point when he rushed the Chaos Persona himself. "Sui Ren!!!"

"Wang, look out!!" Ai shouted a warning when a scythe-like arm protruded from the box, and slashed Wang's Persona across the middle.

"Guuhhh!!" Wang blurted out before coughing out a large volume of blood. He fell over to his knees before finally falling into a pool of his own blood as Ai watched in horror. "WANNGGG!!!" she ran to his side, using Aerong Jong's healing waters to try to ease his bleeding.

"Ah, if that is all you guys are able to do, than I guess there's no point of me dragging this on any longer....." Katya smiled sinisterly. "End this now, Pandora!"

The evil box held by the female Chaos Persona emitted a shrill cry, forcing the Persona-user group to their knees. At the same time the many hands from Pandora's Dark Hands emerged from the floor, grabbing onto the Persona-users by their necks, dangling a few feet from the floor. At the same time the deadly black smoke filled their lungs, burning them from the inside. As she was losing consciousness, one thought flashed past Lyla's mind.

_Shibuya._

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_Another chapter up! Sorry guys, but university life really restricts my time.... So, please do excuse me for the uber-late updates! The next chapter is already underway the time you're reading this, but I cannot promise when the next update would be... So please do keep supporting me!_

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_Shibuya: This warm feeling is?  
Wang: Damn it! I. WILL. NOT. LOSE!!!  
Lyla: We can't afford to lose, we just can't! Shibuya.... I still want to meet him! Next time on Persona: One World, "Ascension"! Would my feelings take me to the next level?_

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	18. Chronicle Eighteen: Ascension

Persona: One World

Disclaimer: I own neither the Persona Series nor the characters originally in the series. However, the characters and this story is mine. With a few exceptions to the characters submitted by a dear readers, in which those are theirs....

Persona: One World

Chronicle Eighteen: Ascension

Junes Shopping Center; Inaba; Nightmare Zone:

Trance could slowly feel himself slowly losing consciousness, falling into a deep darkness at the bottom in his heart. He could see his entire life playing out before him... The time when his father left him and and his mother.... The time he dropped out of school for the fight he joined.... The time he was shot for the first time...

It wasn't only him, he can see his friends slowly sinking into the shadows, the dark hands of the Chaos Persona, Pandora, slowly robbing them of their strength.

"Wake up! Persona-Users!" a shout was heard from somewhere, and there was the sound of slicing metal, and Trance felt the dark hands slacken their grip before releasing him into the ground.

"You!!" Katya hissed as the Persona-users turned to look at the direction she's glaring at. There was a guy, who could have passed easily as a high-school model. His silver hair was partially covered by the black hooded jacket he was wearing. The jacket was long, it reached down to his knees, and he wore black pants, shoes and gloves. He also has a large golden pocket-watch hanging from a golden chain around his waist which from it inside it was a tarot card, the Judgment.

"Children of the wasted potential," he said, his gleaming green eyes flashing angrily at Katya . He raised the pocket-watch, which from it a golden light burst out accompanied with such an energy that the weakened Persona-users had to lie flat on the floor to avoid being blown away. "You should not even EXIST!! Chronos!!!"

His Persona was, like him, wearing a black cloak. The only difference is that the Persona was like a whole millennium older than its user. It held an hourglass between his hands, which like Gefjun's orb was floating a few centimeters from its palms.

The old man Persona stood behind its user, as the golden light seemed to restore the strengths of the Persona-users. Each of them, even Wang whose wound closes at an astounding rate, got back up to their feet.

"You, piece of trash..." Katya hissed again. Her face was clearly showing her anger, as she shouted. " Get that bastard, Pandora!"

Dark hands shot out of Pandora's box again, their numbers staggering. The shot straight towards the Persona Chronos, whom was standing still even at the face of such an attack.

Suddenly, a clear barrier expanded around the old Persona, which froze the dark hands within the barrier mid flight. "Erasure!" the cloaked man shouted. The Persona turned the hourglass around, and the dark hands disappeared, its existence completely erased.

"Damn you! Don't think that this is over!!" The dark smoke from the Pandora's box took place of the dark hands, engulfing the cloaked Persona-user. However, he seemed unfazed by the attack.

"The Smog of Despair, the Haze of Fear..." the cloaked man commented, unimpressed. He wasn't burnt nor choked by the smoke and with a swipe of his hand banished it from his sight. "That would've worked against humans, torturing their emotions and memories. But not on a Shadow who has neither... isn't that so, Teddie-sama?"

Teddie, the blonde young man accompanying Yosuke was startled at first but then nodded. While the others were twitching in pain, he felt only a slight pain in his chest, if nothing more... "Th... That's quite true... I guess...."

"So you're another sentient Shadow eh?" Katya said mockingly. "Well, it would be exciting to see if you would SCREAM as the humans does when you're ripped to shreds!! PANDORA!!!" Her attacks this time were a lot fiercer than before, with a larger number of dark hands reaching out to grab the Old Man Persona Chronos.

"Time Erasure!" the Old Man Persona pulled off the same trick as before, wiping out the hands instantly. To the cloaked man surprise, more hands appeared from the dismembered arms, way to quick for him to pull off another Erasure.

"Diana!" "Susano-O!"

Yosuke and Lyla were the fastest to react to the attack, the arrow and the spiral saw shuriken cut through the second wave of dark hands.

"Persona-users..." The cloaked man said, surprised at the unexpected reinforcement.

"This is it!" Katya shouted, instantly the mall corridor was once again filled with black smoke, and this time even the cloaked man crumpled to the ground clutching his chest in pain. "There's the emotion, right there!!"

"Damn you, woman!" the cloaked man cursed, his body trembling as he fought back the pain.

"Not again!" Yosuke shouted over the screams of the others. While he was fighting the burning sensation in his lungs yet again, out of the corner of his eyes he saw something out of the ordinary. Lyla.

Other than the blood flowing steadily from her hard bit lips, she 's not showing any signs of pain from the Chaos Persona's attacks. Instead she stood strong, looking determinedly at Katya. "I won't lose...." she whispered. "I won't lose to you, Katya Talanov!"

Katya was surprised that Lyla remembered her name, though she had mentioned it only once. What surprised her even more was that Pandora's Smog of Despair attack was having no effect on Lyla. "What the f...? Why aren't you suffering?!"

"I can't afford to lose here, 'cause that'll mean I would never see Shibuya again..." She said, her voice lowering into a whisper. It was clear that she was fighting back the pain from the Chaos Persona's attacks. "And the thought of that is more unbearable than any suffering' you can give me!" she looked up at Katya, her eyes filled with tears as she bit her lips even more to hold back the pain. "And that's why I can't lose! PERSONA!!!" she held up her phone, which emitted an intense white light, instead of the usual green.

The white light repelled the dark smog of the Chaos Persona, and from it emerged the Persona Diana. The hunting goddess Persona stood behind Lyla while the light continued to spiral around both the Persona and its user as well as growing in intensity with every passing moment. Then the image on her phone, the Justice Arcana, shined brightly before transforming into the Moon Arcana.

The light now wrapped itself onto the huntress Persona. The light became cloth on the Persona, forming a long white coat with silver embroideries which reaches down to legs. Part of the light also infused with the huntress's bow and quiver, turning them into a crescent spear and sword respectively. The last shreds of light combined with the huntress's helm which formed a silver tiara. "Luna."

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"Lyla?" Shibuya said suddenly, surprised that he could feel suddenly feel her 'presence'. He touched his chest, feeling his heartbeat as he thought. "What is this feeling...?"

"It's warm, isn't it?" Igor said, walking up next to him. "Its the power created by those whose in their hearts holds a piece of you. The power of the people whom you cared for, and those who loved you in return."

"Those who loved me...?" Shibuya looked at his phone, and saw some pieces of the shattered Moon reforming themselves. "Everyone..."

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"Luna." Lyla said, not forcefully as the Chaos Persona transformations, but rather calm and solemnly. Her green eyes met gray, and it was like a gentle breeze standing up against a storm. The light from the new Persona repelled most of the dark smoke, opening a clearing for where the other Persona-users can breathe.

"You...." Katya glared at the newly transformed Persona, the fear she was inflicting returning to her.

The white Persona held her spear in one hand, and drew her sword with the other on order. She stood in front of her user, striking a fighter's pose.

"Katya Talanov," Lyla spoke to the Chaos Persona-user. The latter looked at her with murderous eyes, but still with a trace of fear within.

"_En garde._" with the whisper Luna rushed towards Pandora, weapons held at her sides. Pandora was quick enough to send up wave of Dark Hands against the Light Persona, who dodged the defensive attack nimbly and hacked off the majority of the Hands with her sword of pure light. Instantly, more hands grew from the severed Hands, together with the Smog of Despair.

"_Clair de Lune!_" white light erupted from Luna's crescent spear, vanquishing the enemy's attack. She then swung her spear horizontally, unleashing a wave of divine moonlight at the demonic lady. Once again the Chaos Persona tried to absorb the attack using its devillish box. However, the sheer strength of the attack was so massive that the box was unable to contain it, causing it to crack and shatter by the time the light subsided. "What?" was all Katya could say.

"This is it, the _coup de grace!_" Lyla shouted. Luna drove her spear into Pandora's midriff before taking taking her sword by both hands. "_Lune de Fatalie!!!_" a swift downward slash from the sword, which was giving off a large radiance of pure white light, cut clean through the dark Persona.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" Katya screamed out. It was a scream unlike anyone had ever heard, choking and gasping between bouts of purely inhuman screaming. Then, before anyone could do anything she dropped, silent.

"Is... is she dead?" Trance asked looking at the girl.

"No." Lyla pointed out that Katya was still breathing. Well, barely as blood was pouring profusely from the large gash made by Luna's attack. "Luna." without another word Luna shone her crescent spear above the fallen Chaos Persona-user and quickly the wound started to close.

"What are you doing?!" Wang suddenly shouted, pushing his way through the group. "She's the enemy! Why are you healing her?!"

Mellissa stood up and blocked Wang's path. "It's something Shibuya would have done." She said sternly looking straight into Wang's glaring eyes. "and as leader, she got the rights to do whatever she wants...."

"What?!" Wang roared. "Since when was she appointed leader?!" Wang was literally shaking with rage, a sight that caused Ai to cower a little, but neither Lyla nor Mellissa inched.

"You saw it right? Her power?" Mellissa said coolly in Wang's face. She smirked at Wang indignified expression, and added. "You've been thinking of taking the captain's seat all to yourself eh? Wang-kun?"

"You...."

"Wanna be the next leader? Heh, you act all tough but that swagger's all you got!"

"SHUT UP!!!"

Everything happened so quickly that no one could realize what happened, but Luna had stepped between Sui Ren and Gefjun, both whom had been summoned in a flash. "Stop this, please..." Lyla pleaded, stepping between her two teammates herself. "I..."

"Lyla!" everyone shouted as Lyla slowly lost grip on her consciousness and fell to the floor. The silver haired cloaked man was the first to approach her. He rested her head on his lap and chanted some words in an unknown language.

"She should be fine." he said, as his unseen magic began to take effect. At least color was returning to the girl's face. Satisfied with his work, the man began to walk away from the group.

"Hold on, you!" Yosuke called after the man. "Who exactly are you?"

The man hesitated for a while before exchanging a silent look with Teddie. After being given an equally silent nod he spoke. "I am Fragment. A sentient Shadow, just like Teddie-sama over there."

"Teddie....-sama?" Yosuke said dumbfounded, if this was an anime a large sweatdrop would appear at the back of his head....

"While you all battled the the Goddess Izanami, we Shadows watched from the sides. We were inspired by how a Shadow, Teddie-sama was able to fight hand-in-hand with Persona-users." Fragment told them, his face glowing slightly of what seemed to be pride. "We, the sentient Shadows, are the ones awakened to the same powers as the great Teddie-sama..."

"Ookkayy..." Yosuke scratched the back of his head, apparently none of Fragment's words got through to his brain.

"So, I guess you're here as a friend?" Headmistress Kirijo spoke up, wiping her dress clean from the dirt picked up from the dirty floor.

"I can't say for sure," Fragment replied. The last moment before he disappeared into the darkness of the night he turned and said. "But, I doubt we won't see each other on opposite sides of the battlefield."

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"So, wanna do this again?" The Gray-Haired Young Man said to a kneeling Shibuya, who was panting and gasping for air. Shibuya grinned and got back up to his feet. "Bring it on, Senpai!"

The Gray-Haired Young Man smiled and readied his Iron Bat, while Shibuya picked up his katana from the ship's deck floor. He pointed it to the Gray-Haired Young Man. "This time I'm going in full force!"

With those words light blue aura began to wrap around the dark haired Shibuya, kicking a wind before forming a humanoid shape.

"Oh," Igor gasped and looked at the Blue Haired Young Man, who was not participating in the fight. Despite the obvious improvements shown by Shibuya, the expression on the Blue Haired Young Man showed that he thinks otherwise. With a frown he said. "It looks like the world has to hold on a little bit longer..."

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_Wow, sorry for another late update guys.... Its hard to balance this and Second Innovation and university life.... I'll try to get th next Chapter up as soon as possible, I promise! So, please do keep tuning in to Persona: One World, okay?!_

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_Wang: I need to become stronger.... I have to... I..._

_Lyla: Wang, we shouldn't do this.. If the others were to find out...._

_Wang: Shut up! I have to do this! Next on Persona: One World "The Meaning of Leadership"! _

_Lyla: I don't want this, Wang..._

_Shibuya: ... _


	19. Chapter 19?: New Beginning

Persona : One World  
Chapter ??: A New Beginning

Shibuya: Everyone had supported me so far....

Lyla: We can't let them down!

Wang : The journey is just beginning. We'll have to make things right!

Ai: Thanks to eveyone's support.... We've become stronger....

Trance: Keep on supporting us, guys!

Mellissa: It would be nice to see you guys again when ou journey begin again!

Everyone : We invite you all to follow our new adventures on Persona: One World Re! See you there! Thank You for Tuning In!


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